Walking the Line Between Life and Death
by Tobmaster
Summary: There is a fine line between life and death. Uzumaki Naruto becomes a missing nin during his 3yr training mission. What could drive him to betray his very own village? Does anyone care enough to bring him back? Not packed with Action but there is some
1. Chapter 1

Before reading, I would like to say that it has been enjoyable writing these stories, but I am no longer active in writing in any shape or form, nor am I on this site anymore. This story was one of my first attempts at writing, so there will be missing depth at times and parts where things should have been handled differently, but all in all it turns out decently for what it is. I have removed all Author notes so there will be no explanations or break ups in your reading...

All my stories were written in 2007, so there are things we know now that we didn't back then

Also I do not read review posts anymore, so don't expect any replies

FYI: I like using honorifics when possible but I'm clearly an English only speaker, so forgive anything that looks off when it is a different language. Enjoy Chapter 1.

* * *

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 1

Summary: There is a fine line between life and death. Uzumaki Naruto becomes a missing nin during his 3yr training mission. What could drive him to betray his very own village? Does anyone care enough to bring him back?

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

I'm moving the whole timeline up 2 years, so they were genin at age 14 – I'm more comfortable that way (12 yr olds shouldn't have to kill people in my book)

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

"Jiraiya! What are you saying?" Screamed the busty blonde while massaging her temples in exasperation

"I'm sorry Tsunade-hime, each of us cared for the brat, but there is no mistaking it." replied the white haired self proclaimed super pervert. "There was no sign of a struggle and he was completely pissed about not being able to go after Sasuke… again. I tried to find him, but he was just gone. He has never displayed that kind of stealth before unless he doesn't want to be found."

"That is still no excuse! You were supposed to be training him and making sure Akatsuki stayed away from him. I bet you just left him training himself as you went to your perverted peeping."

"Well, you see the thing is…"

"JIRAIYA!" the old pervert was launched out the nearest window by the irritated Hokage. Scribbling down information on a scroll she called in one of the Anbu guards. "Take this scroll to the council, it's time we retrieve our lost ninja, we can't loose another one." She ordered. The guard took the scroll and ran out the door. "He knows he can't become Hokage when he isn't here" she said to herself thinking of what could possibly go through the kids head.

* * *

"We are sorry Hokage-sama, but there is no way we can afford a mission of this upbringing. All available funds need to go to strengthening our village. Not only will we need to pay the ninjas on this mission, but we will also lose income from not being able to complete missions they would be pulled from." Informed the head of the council.

"I'm sure I could get quite a few of our Ninjas to volunteer for the mission without accepting payment." Countered the Hokage.

"As true as it may be, we need those ninja for active missions, besides one person isn't worth this much of an undertaking."

"What do you mean with that? You guys nearly begged me to send a large group to retrieve the stuck up Uchiha." Stated Tsunade while her anger was rising.

"That was different; he was still impressionable at that age. That thing is much older, and we will probably be safer without him here. We all agreed on this, so there is no chance of changing our decision; it is final."

"You guys act like the smartest ones in this village, but you are clearly all idiots. If you all would have treated Naruto correctly from the beginning, you would never even have to consider worrying about Kyubi, but after what this village has done to him…" Tsunade left them hanging and turned to leave the council chambers when she was called back by the council.

"Tsunade-sama, make sure his is classed as a missing nin."

"Yeah what ever you ass." She replied while storming out of the chamber.

* * *

Only one week has past when the next bingo book was issued to all ninja in Konoha. Like every other Wednesday the whole crew of leaf genin of 3 years back, now all at least chuunin, were meeting like usual at training ground 23 when an overly excited Kiba came running to the group with Akamaru, late as usual.

"Hey guys, the new bingo book is out, I got you all a copy." He hollered out.

"Kiba! Do you know how to keep quiet!" Screamed Sakura as she bonked him on the head.

"Thank you Kiba-kun." Said Hinata as the rest of the group nodded in agreement and took their copies to look through. The group sat around looking through the book at their own pace occasionally pointing out various people when they heard Hinata gasp loudly. All eyes turned to her as she looked completely… pissed? Hinata stood with anger as everyone cringed at the face of impending doom coming from the always kind heiress. Byakugan flaring, she stomps over to where the recovering Kiba was sitting. The group stared in awe at the rage seen in the dark haired girl as she grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the nearest tree holding him there.

"Kiba," she said enraged even dropping the usual suffix. "If you ever play a prank like that again, I will break every bone in your body." Kiba gulped as the group backed a few feet away from her in fear.

"W-what did I do? I h-haven't p-pranked anyone in years." He stuttered out in sheer fear while being eyed by the all seeing eye of the Byakugan.

"Those are real then?" seeing him nod her eyes welled with tears as she unceremoniously dropped him to the ground. "I'm sorry Kiba-kun." Her eyes leaking tears down on her face looked back at her discarded book and bolted from the area carrying the sounds of uncontrolled sobbing with her.

"What's wrong with Hinata?" Kiba wondered out loud trying to massage his neck.

"Might be hormones." Simply stated Ino like it was obvious.

Picking up her discarded book, Shino opened it to the last page she was at and raised an eye brow while reading. "Turn to page 34" he said causing everyone to jump, since he never talked. Everyone turned in their books and were surprised at what they read.

_Uzumaki Naruto_

_Age: 17_

_Rank: Genin_

_Status: S Class Missing Nin of Konoha_

_Notable Jutsus: Rasengan, Kage Bushin _

_Although ranked as genin, expect well over Jonin capabilities. Most likely has a vast collection of ninjutsu as well as proficiency in taijutsu. DO NOT attempt to engage the target, his real strength is still unknown, possibly Kage level. _

The group just stared at the page in wonder trying to figure how the loud self proclaimed future Hokage would even consider running like the traitorous Uchiha. Well, at least now they knew what caused the recent threat coming from their shy counterpart. Many times in the past 3 years, more so in the last year, there have been reports of villagers and even high level ninjas mysteriously showing up in the hospital. Officially there is no plausible explanation as to why they only have damage to internal organs, but the blonde haired legendary medic knew exactly why; they spoke ill of a certain genin in front of the wrong Hyuuga, but that would never be publicly known.

Following the lead of Hinata, the rest of them ran to the Hokage tower to give a piece of their minds. Upon arriving they heard the unmistakable sounds of yelling coming from the Hokage's office, but were confused as to who Tsunade was yelling with.

"What do you mean you can't do anything about it!? You're the freaking Hokage! You need to do something! Something isn't right, you know that he would never leave, and now he is labeled as a missing nin to be killed on sight if possible! You can't let that happen!"

"HINATA SIT DOWN!" she flinched a bit at the severe volume, "and the rest of you pansies get in here!" jumping at the acknowledgement, the rest of the teams came through the door into the office seeing the fuming heiress sitting impatiently. Seeing the look on her face, everyone decided to take a chair a good distance from her just incase.

"I guess you are all here for the same thing," seeing a nod of agreement from everyone, she rubbed the bridge of her nose and started in. " Naruto was due to return this week, but just last week Jiraiya returned without him with the news that he disappeared without out leaving a trace, even for a sannin to follow. Logically this means he purposely took off not wanting to be found. Although knowing Naruto, nothing follows logic so I petitioned the council to allow a village funded rescue mission, but was declined by everyone on the council making it impossible for even me to give the mission. I'm sorry, but there really is nothing we can do." Everyone looked disappointed, but frightenly Hinata still held her anger and stood to leave before looking back at the Hokage.

"You might be seeing the council soon." She warned before Tsunade stopped her.

"Hinata, I have overlooked your previous actions to this point, but this is a direct order… do not attack the council, if you do it will be seen as treason, and I won't be able to protect you from the death penalty." Warned the worried blonde.

"Like I really care anymore, I'll be in my room for a few weeks, don't bother to come by." Her anger faded as her sorrow took over; with tears pouring down her visage she hurried out the office door slamming it ferociously.

"Tsunade-sensei," Sakura called out, "what was she going to do?"

"Remember the mysterious injuries?" she asked while the pink haired one nodded. "well…" Tsunade nodded towards the door. Sakura stared at the door looked back to her mentor and looked back at the door with astonishment.

"You mean all those attacks were caused by Hinata? Why would she attack innocent people?" All the occupants of the room dropped their jaw at the accusation, except of course Shino and the lazy Shikamaru.

"I believe after Naruto left she couldn't stand the ridiculing of him anymore and kind of snapped. We all know what she really thinks of him, and I probably would have done the same if I heard them, so I kept it under wraps. Besides who would really suspect someone so shy in doing those things?" asked Tsunade.

"So, does she really think no one knows of her feelings for him? I mean she still tries to keep it a secret, but anyone that has seen her anywhere near Naruto can plainly see it all." Stated Ino.

"What!? Hinata likes Naruto!?" shouted Kiba while everyone fell off of their chair.

"Kiba! You are possibly even more of a thick headed idiot that Naruto! She is your teammate and you never once saw the red face and fainting she did around him?" shouted Sakura pounding him on the head.

"Uh, I though she was like allergic to him or something." He replied earning another whack on his head

"You really are dumber than Naruto, at least he has an excuse of not having a family." Lazily commented Shikamaru as he wandered out the door mumbling. "Why did you have to be so troublesome Naruto?"

"Is there something we can do Tsunade-sensei? I can't loose another teammate." Asked Sakura now showing some feelings.

"No, I'm afraid not, even if we convince him to return, he'll be surely executed. I just hope he finds what he is looking for, that baka."

Those that show emotions had the distinct look of defeat as they left the Hokage tower. The group split going to their own destinations thinking of how they possibly could have lost another ninja.

* * *

….Later


	2. Chapter 2

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 2

Last Chapter Summary: Konoha learned of Naruto's disappearance and becoming a mission nin, and Hinata was pissed and sorrowful after finding him in the recent Bingo Book and wanted to go on a rampage of sorts – Age at chapter 1 end: 17(I moved time up remember?)

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

It has been a full year since the announcement that Uzumaki Naruto was declared a missing nin. A year where no day has gone by without a pale eyed young woman shedding a tear for her missing love interest. In this year some unexpected things have happened in Konoha. Some members of the council were crippled due to an accident involving explosive tags, or at least that is what the reports say. I mean really what else could cause one member to have many broken bones and be embedded into a wall while the other seemed to suffer from over loaded tenketsus but remained unharmed other wise? It's not like some strong ninja blasted one through the wall while another incapacitated the other right?

The hyuuga clan also had some changes; Hanabi was declared the heir to the clan, by the insistence of Hinata asking to be allowed to life on her own without the caged bird seal in exchange. The clan council took very little time deciding in favor of the proposition, they were glad to have a powerful heir, and also to not be associated with the weaker of the siblings anymore. For Hinata this was the best choice she has ever made. She was no longer tied to the Hyuuga rules and could do things her own way. She has definitely changed now and she showed it openly; she never again wore the old jacket, of which she was known, since she felt she had no need to hide herself from her father's scrutiny. She also grew a fierce determination, where it came from no one could figure out, and as such she never stuttered anymore but she still kept some of her underlying shyness that would show up every so often.

Not needing much in way of housing, she mysteriously (…right…) found a very small apartment that couldn't be rented out to anyone. She managed to get the proprietor to rent it out to her for half price, only with the condition that she would have to clean out the remnants of the previous tenant, like these strange orange clothes; obviously she knew what apartment she was renting. With the money she has been saving she bought all new furniture and appliances; the stove didn't work and no one wanted to clean out the old fridge after sitting for 3 years. Once that was all accomplished, Hinata finally felt like she had a home; a cozy place for a person, or couple, to start out. The only thing she felt was missing from her home was the previous tenant; she always imagined he would walk through he door announcing he was home but never did and probably never will.

This bright cheery morning started like everyday always did, Hinata would wake up do her usual morning stuff, (you know, shower and stuff), and get ready for another day. She wore tight fitting knee length black shorts along with an equally tight fitting tan short sleeve shirt displaying, on her sleeve, a small spiral with the Hyuuga flame emblazoned in the foreground, as well as showing off her envied curves; over her shirt she placed her deep blue, almost black, flak jacket and secured the straps. Everything she did in the morning was done like a normal single woman would except for every time she left, she would take a glance at the few pictures and weapons left by the previous tenant sighing. She always tried to hold back her tears but never managed to do so and today was no different. Wiping off her face, she took off for the tower, for another mission to occupy her mind. She moved at unreal speeds leaving barely any evidence she was anywhere near, since she found that by removing her jacket she gained the attention of most of the male population.

"You may enter," called out the Godaime Hokage. The door opened revealing pale lavender eyes and elegant face of the powerful kunoichi. "Ah, Hinata, what can I do for you?" Tsunade asked with a smile.

"I would like a mission if it isn't too much to ask." She replied.

"Well I don't really have a mission suited for your expertise." Seeing her disappointed look she shuffled though some papers, "but I do have a high C ranked mission. It requires you to deliver a package to a village between fire country and wind length is approximately 5 days. This is a solo mission due to your strength; do you want it?"

"Yes, I will accept this mission, thank you Tsunade-sama." Bowing, Hinata turns to leave until she is halted by the busty woman.

"Hinata, are you all right?" she asked concerned, "You do know almost everyone knows why you are depressed, and you can always talk to me about it, right?"

"Um, yes I do, thank you, but I'm fine, really." Hinata forces a sweet smile and attempts to leave once more until she hears a forced cough. "Is there something else Tsunade-sama?" she asked and her attention was brought to a small package still sitting on the desk next to the mission scroll. "Oops, sorry." She embarrassingly offered as she picked up the package and scroll and promptly left to get ready for the mission.

The days went by as she steadily journeyed to her destination. Being alone in the forests of fire country always seemed to cheer her up, and she was smiling humming a tune as she walked along watching the wild animals come towards her gentle voice. She watched the small animals run and play amongst themselves as she would giggle at their antics. "I've always seen children play like this, but I never did, and neither did he, I wish now that I could have talked to him and had become his friend so we could have enjoyed our child hood," she sighed to herself while watching the wildlife in slight disappointment.

Night started to fall on our friendly traveler when the air became cooler and the fog started to form in the air. Deciding it would be best to stop, she set up camp, off the road a ways, in a small clearing. After setting up some traps, eating, and placing a genjutsu on the camp, she retired to her tent. Taking off her jacket, and a certain undergarment, she nestled herself into her sleeping bag for the duration. Like always her dreams were of a young blonde kid always grinning as he ran with her through the streets of the village, but unfortunately for her, they always seemed to end abruptly with the coming of daybreak.

Hinata emerged from her tent meeting the dim light shining through the still dense fog. She knew time was getting short, so she had to move through the fog instead of waiting. She packed up the tent and supplies and set back to the trail activating her Byakugan every so often to make sure she was still on the correct trail. An hour has past and Hinata was starting to get apprehensive. Surely it has been long enough for the fog to lift, but it still hasn't. Pondering her situation, she sensed movement and activated her Byakugan. With her increased sight she was able to make out 7 ninja, 6 approaching from all sides while the last stayed back.

"Crap there goes the C ranked mission." She told herself before falling into a defensive Jyuken stance. The first two, low chuunin, attacked quickly after getting in range with straight up taijutsu and were easily dispatched by a palm strike to the head and heart, one for each of them. That was when the other four came in and surrounded her.

"Hand over the package," One demanded while the others drew weapons.

"I don't think so, I haven't failed a mission in over a year, and I'm not going to start now." Confidently declared Hinata.

"You get to die then little bitch, any last words I should send to your home?"

"No, there really isn't anyone there anyways, besides, I won't loose to you bastards." Three of the now angered nins charged battling it out with the superior female. Hit for hit the 3 on one battle continued , but the 3 attackers started to slow due to the extensive hits from the Jyuken, but even she started to tire from chakra usage.

"Hey there missy, It appears that you are slowing down, your battle is soon to end." Announced the leader.

"You are right they are done… Kaiten," her three opponents flew off in every direction, by the chakra sphere, getting knocked out upon connecting with the surrounding trees. After panting a bit to catch her breath she turned her attention to the assumed leader.

"Well then, are you going to give me the package now? You are clearly in no position to battle a ninja of my caliber."

"I will never allow you to take the package, my mission will not be a failure." Hinata prepared herself, but was clearly way too tired to be a challenge and was clearly at the disadvantage in her fight. Her opponent between blocks managed to land enough slashes on her to shred her flak jacket to the point where it got in the way of fighting. Discarding the jacket she returned to the battle. Due to losing the jacket she was able to get a decent hit in since her opponent was slightly distracted by her chest but recovered quickly and stabbed a kunai into her left shoulder drawing large amounts of blood. 'I guess this is really it then… I may be able to get a few more attacks in but I will never be able to take out the last guy… and he's coming now… I'm surely going to die here…'

'Where do I know her from, I am sure I've seen her before' thought a dark clad ninja sitting on a branch. He continued to watch his mystery woman hold off a small group of ninja when he finally saw something slightly familiar, the lifting fog swirled around her before she spun around sanding her opponents flying. 'I know where I saw her before, she is that ultra pretty girl I saw in the water years ago… Whoa, she just took her coat off…she's… much um... older than before.' He was brought away from his thinking when he saw the kunai enter her shoulder with a scream. 'I cannot let her die' he thought as he jumped from his location.

Hinata watched the attack come at her aiming to stab her directly though the throat. She watched as it moved closer and closer still. With the Byakugan still active she saw the other figure closing in fast, very fast. His leg took to the air as chakra flowed around it aimed to strike her head. Cringing in fear of death, she waited for her mind to be silenced when she heard a shout, "Kitsune Kikku!" (simply translated to 'Fox Kick' - real original huh) and a sudden thud in front of her. She looked towards the source of the thud and saw her very opponent's head caved in on the side by a single kick with a tall man standing over him facing her. Due to her blood loss from the injury, she got dizzy and fell forward and into his strong firm arms before losing the battle for consciousness.

* * *

...Later


	3. Chapter 3

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 3

Last Chapter Summary: A year went by; Hinata left her clan to live on her own in Konoha. She was about to die during a easy C-rank delivery mission until she was rescued by an unknown stranger(at least to her). Age by Chapter 2 End - 18

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

Once again night was coming; darkness threatened to consume the area when a man entered a small self built single room shack carrying a young indigo haired woman in his arms. Setting her down in the corner on the only bed like furnishing in the building he stared at the lovely face she had for a moment. Brushing some hair out of her face he looked on as he brushed his hand across her soft cheek. Shaking himself out of his fascination, he blushingly, and nervously, removed her shirt exposing her rather large chest, barely tamed by the restricting undergarment. Eyes large at what he was seeing, he quickly addressed the hole in her shoulder with bandages, some ointment and gauze wrapping; it as good as he could before covering her with a small blanket. Now able to relax a bit from the eye full he got, his blood flow returned to its normal paths allowing him to think clearly again.

A few hours later and it is now completely dark in the humble shack, all except for a small candle burning next to the pale skinned woman casting a faint glow on her face. Hinata felt strangely comfortable where she was at, but was unsure where she actually was. Slowly, and groggily, she stirred from her slumber, but groaned at the piercing pain in her shoulder. Frantically trying to figure out where she was and why she had no shirt on, she heard a deep voice call to her.

"Hey there beautiful, I see you are awake now," he observed.

"Um, yes but where is my shirt? What have you done to me?" she asked with a voice laced with fear.

"Your shirt is all bloody, and I had to remove it to dress your wound, I'm afraid that if I didn't you would have died from blood loss."

"Oh, thank you then" she called into the darkness. She saw the form of the man stand from where he was and turned, now facing her. He walked closer to her until she heard a loud gasp come from his direction. "What is it? What do you see? What surprised you?" Hinata frantically searched around herself trying to find the source of his surprise but failed in finding it. His next words scared her greatly.

"Your eyes… they're… they're… white," he said not hiding the fact that he was astonished by it.

"You are correct sir, they are kind of white. It is normal for my clan."

"I-I-I… know… that wasn't what surprised me."

"What did then if I may ask?"

"The fact that is was you all along… you were the pretty girl I saw years ago, the one I couldn't get my mind off of… It was you, wasn't it… Hinata." She gasped in slight fear; this man knew of her clan and worse yet her name.

"NO please stay away from me! What do you want? How do you know my name?" she cried out fearing for everything that could happen trying to hide herself.

"Shhh, I'm sorry that sounded like it did. I'm definitely not going to hurt you, it's just I wasn't expecting to see you again, I'm very happy you are alive."

"What? Who the hell are you?" she asked

"Oh crap, I'm so sorry, I thought you could see me… I'm going to step into the light, so don't be afraid." The man walked closer and closer to the light. Finally stepping out of the shadows, Hinata's eyes grew twice their size when she saw deep pools of blue piercing through the darkness with wisps of blonde hair shining in the night. "Let's try this again… Hello Hinata."

"Na-Naruto-kun!" She bolted directly for him ignoring her pain and embraced him in a tight hug before letting go and slapping him across the face causing him to fall to the ground.

"Ouch, damn that hurt. What was that for?"

"What do you mean?! I was worried about you, everyone was worried about you! What the hell were you thinking? You can never be the Hokage now since you are an S class missing nin!" she yelled in complete irritation causing Naruto to flinch.

"This is strange, you don't stutter anymore, you were kind of cute when you did that, but I wonder… Do you still blush?" Hinata looked at him with slight joy, for the cute remark, and slightly dumbfounded about the blushing part. Seeing that she was slightly stumped, Naruto made a gesture slightly below his line of sight. Hinata saw this and followed his pointing to her chest which was still shirtless. Letting out an embarrassed squeal, she turned bright crimson and jumped to the bed area and covered herself with the blanket. "Ah, that is a relief. For a moment there, I thought I was in some alternate dimension and I was stuck with a Hinata that acted like Neji." Naruto laughed a bit until he heard Hinata's voice again.

"Um, Naruto-kun, why did you betray the village? We all cared for you and you up and leave us." She asked in a confident, but very sweet voice.

"You have a very nice voice Hinata-chan…" 'Wait did I just call her Hinata-chan? Hmm, I guess it does suit her.' "Anyways, last I checked I couldn't be a missing nin since there isn't a village anymore."

"What!? When? How? It was there a few days ago, I just came from there on my mission… oh crap I'm going to be late for the mission, where is the package, I can't fail?"

"Whoa, hold up a bit… I already delivered your package, and have the signature to prove it, but what are you saying? Over a year ago Konoha was destroyed; I've seen it with my own eyes." He stated disbelieving.

"No, Naruto-kun, Konoha still stands. We are very much alive. Are you saying that you didn't run away from Jiraiya-sama?"

"Huh, why would I run away from Ero-sennin? When he didn't return to my training after 3 days, I decided to return to Konoha, and I found it completely destroyed. I couldn't bear returning afterwards." Hinata let out a relieved sigh, then it hit her; 'I'm half dressed… in a room… with Naruto-kun' she let out a silent squeal of delight as a smile crossed her face.

"I'm glad you didn't really run away, but you are still classed as a missing nin, so you wont be allowed to return to Konoha. I think we might be able to work something out though, if you'll return with me."

"I… well," seeing those kind eyes of hers he just couldn't resist denying her. "I guess I could try, If the place is still wrecked, I leave again. I would also need you to truthfully answer one question for me before I go."

"Thank you," she was just ecstatic about being able to bring him back and even spend time with him for a few days on the return journey, but she still needed to get the question out of the way. "So what question did you want to ask?"

"Oh uh, why does your clan symbol now look so close to the one I made and wear and why did you let me believe that I imagined the whole thing with you dancing on the water like that?"

Hinata was surprised at his question and was reluctantly going to answer, but stopped when she realized she wouldn't have to confess everything to him. "Um, Naruto-kun, that was two questions, which question did you want answered?"

"Bah, don't worry about it Hinata-chan, you'll answer them both when you feel like it. Just get some rest now."

"Naruto-kun? Where will you sleep? I doubt you have anything else to sleep on around here."

"Hey don't worry about it; I'll sleep on the floor if I do sleep."

"NO! I mean… you don't need to do that. Um, I suppose there is enough room here that we could try to share."

"I couldn't intrude on your space, besides, I'm not a pervert." Hinata smiled, she knew that she was at least being noticed as a girl by him now, and he might even be attracted to her. She had to find out more so she pushed it further.

"It wouldn't be intruding since I suggested it, and you could never be considered a pervert just for sharing a bed with me. Besides, it is cold tonight, and I may need more heat to stay warm and heal." She saw at that last moment that she took a rather low tactic seeing as how she had him cornered and he knew it. He couldn't ever let a friend be uncomfortable when he could fix it for them with something so harmless now could he.

"Ok," he finally relented as he lay down next to her. He was expecting her just to keep the blanket and sleep close to him, he was obviously mistaken. When he got situated, he was surprised to see Hinata coming closer and actually half laying on top of him as she threw the small blanket over the two of them with a deep blush on her face. She pretty much hugged him tightly and using him as a pillow fell off to sleep. A few moments past before Naruto got himself calmed down after feeling her breasts pushed up against him. Not knowing what to do in this situation, he just lightly stroked her back and felt her relax completely almost melting in his arms. She obviously enjoyed it so he continued rubbing her back and got something close to a purr come from her before he heard something else that he wouldn't be able to forget… "I'm glad you're finally all mine, Naruto-kun." She murmured in her sleep.

'I'm dreaming, it is all just a dream… she couldn't possibly care about me like that… just a dream.' Naruto thought that over and over to ease his mind until he finally fell asleep.

* * *

...Later


	4. Chapter 4

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 4

Last Chapter Summary: Hinata found out that the stranger that rescued her was none other than Naruto. There were awkward moments, but eventually she tricked him into sharing a bed with her – harmlessly. They'll be 18yrs old for a while.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

Morning came blasting its light and heat across the forest canopy. It was early, but for someone with way too much on his mind, it wasn't that early. Naruto woke at the break of twilight and has been thinking of the last few words he heard the night before. He just couldn't figure out in his head if someone like Hinata even had the ability to like someone of his status. 'Like the heiress of a clan could really even consider me, it's an impossibility' His mind was filled with these thoughts, but what never seemed to grace his thoughts were ones of a pink haired girl, everything consisted of the dark blue haired one. He kept pondering his thoughts not even paying attention to the fact that he was now gently running his hand up and down the mostly bare back of the girl lying on him. He also wasn't aware that she has been awake for a while now just enjoying his touch.

'Oh this feels so good, I wonder if he even knows that he is doing this… not likely though, I had to trick him into keeping me warm… I bet if it was Sakura, he wouldn't have hesitated… He will probably forget about me again after we get back… I just wish he could love me.' Giving up on her jumbled thoughts, she knew she needed to be going and had to officially wake up.

"Good morning Naruto-kun," her announcement made Naruto jump slightly and quickly stop his actions and snapping him back to reality.

"Good morning Hinata, you stay warm?" he asked emotionlessly.

'I knew last night was just a slip of the tongue, he has only called Sakura using –chan' "Yes I did thank you… we should probably get moving, I'm expected back soon." Hinata stood up and walked towards the door in the attempt to leave until she was interrupted.

"You know Hinata, you really shouldn't walk around outside like that, you may draw attention to yourself."

"What?" she asked, not seeing the problem.

"You seem really distracted you know… you still aren't wearing a shirt." Hinata turned red even to the point that it spread down to her chest while Naruto chuckled at her attempt to cover herself. "Clearly your arms aren't nearly large enough to cover all of you… here." He throws a shirt to her and she promptly puts it on still blushing.

"Thank you again, but this shirt smells weird though."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I wasn't expecting to loan out a shirt. We should really stop by the river and give them a good scrubbing; we should be able to get the blood out of your other shirt so you could be comfortable again." Grabbing the few clothes he had and Hinata's bloody shirt, he ushered her outside and headed down the path towards Konoha.

The two travelers were unaware of each others similar thoughts as they walked. Each of them were glancing towards the other and managed to face front before the other caught them. They stayed silent for most of the day, just stopping occasionally for bits of food they managed to rummage up. Deep in the afternoon they came upon the shallow river where they could wash the clothing and left the road. Walking into a small clearing by the bank of the river they found a group of rocks suitable for use as a washboard and set in to their duty.

Hinata was convinced, by Naruto, that with her injury she should not be the one doing the washing so he went to scrubbing the clothing. He managed to get the blood out of her shirt without too much effort and handed it to Hinata to be hung up to dry. Hinata brought the next piece and set it down next to him to be washed. The process went on through all the clothing until the last piece. With a mischievous smile Hinata threw the shirt into the water next to Naruto causing water to splash up and douse the blonde.

"W-what was that Hinata?" he sputtered angrily until he saw her cheerful smile and couldn't be angry. "Oh so that's how it is then? You are so going to pay for that." He declared taking off after her splashing water towards her retreating body and giving chase. The two ran after each other giggling, laughing, and splashing water on each other. Five minutes later they were both soaked head to toe, but still were enjoying the game as they continued chasing and splashing water until Naruto caught Hinata around the waist. Their laughing faded as they turned and looked into each others eyes and found themselves uncontrollably inching closer to the point where their lips met in a soft and sweet kiss. Realizing what just happened, Naruto jumped away from her like she was on fire. (I blame this scene for everything... for some reason it just jumped into my head, and I built this entire story just to hold this scene. All this fluffy stuff... I should be ashamed...)

"Um, sorry I didn't… I mean I," stumbling over his words he couldn't make a cohesive sentence.

"Naruto-kun, what's wrong? A kiss is supposed to be a good thing, just accept it." She stated while smiling.

"Um, well it isn't exactly about the kiss, It's something else. I just can't…" Hinata looked crushed after hearing his words and had a feeling what it could be.

"I see; it's because of Sakura isn't it? You still like her." Dejected, Hinata trudged out of the river they were standing in and walked back to where the clothing was drying when she felt a hand land on her good shoulder turning her around to gaze into blue eyes.

"No, it has nothing to do with Sakura, At first I did like her because she was pretty and out spoken, but I found out she really wasn't that good of a person, so after a while it became just a ploy to try and keep girls away from me," Hinata looked at him not quite understanding his reasoning so he had to elaborate. "You see I didn't really want a girlfriend or anyone to be remotely interested in me a little after the genin exams. I needed people to keep at a distance since I may have to leave and I didn't want my disappearance to hurt anyone. At that point, I decided to make a big production about still liking someone I knew would never show any affection towards me just so I could be left alone"

"But why would you do that? Wouldn't a girlfriend make you less lonely? Why were you thinking you might leave?" Hinata had many questions, but there could only be one answer, and that was his burden to tell.

"There is a part of me that wants a girlfriend more than anything, but there is just another part of me that makes it impossible for me to keep one."

"What would make it impossible to keep a girlfriend, I don't understand."

"I really don't think there is a person that could love me enough to overlook what I'm hiding from everyone." Naruto saw her pale, shimmering, soft eyes change completely serious and stared directly at him.

"Try me," she said with such determination that it felt as though it was a direct order from the Hokage herself. Naruto's mouth was open showing his astonishment at what she was implying.

'I see now... you, the blushing... I'm an idiot, but I guess I can see just how far your feelings run for me if at all.' he thought before telling her his story. "This is an S class village secret that prohibits even speaking of it to our generation and younger. Only I have the authority to break the law set by the Sandaime and inform someone of it (he likes feeling in charge of something). You must never speak of this secret to anyone without my consent as you will be the only person near our age to know of it." Seeing Hinata nod an affirmative, he had her sit down so he could tell her his burden. "You see I have never been looked upon nicely by anyone in the village, I get glares and insults thrown at me everywhere I go."

"I know how the villagers treat you Naruto-kun, you can skip that part."

"Huh? How?"

"Well um, you see it's um, because," she nervously prods her fingers together for the first time in 2 years. "I have been um… following you… like… a lot."

"So then you're saying I have my very own stalker. For some reason… I don't see a problem with that." Hinata blushed and was slightly in shock that he didn't mind her watching him. "Anyways the reason they hate me is due to something that happened the day I was born. A great beast attacked Konoha decimating everything and everyone in its path. Now I'm sure you know this story, but some parts are wrong, so try not to interrupt. The greatest of all tailed demons or Bijuu, the demon lord Kyuubi master of all the elements(He is for this story) had nearly infinite power. There wasn't a single ninja, or even group of ninja, capable of killing such a beast; only a being of greater strength could defeat it. The Yondaime Hokage, with an extremely dangerous forbidden technique, called forth the Shinigami, the death god. The rules of the jutsu requires the user to sacrifice their soul in exchange for taking the soul of another, in this case the demon fox, so they can fight it out for eternity. The problem with that was the Yondaime felt that it was so powerful he wasn't sure if it could be properly contained in the death god's realm so he combined that jutsu with another to seal the fox and his power within an object, but only a living being with chakra coils still in the development stage could possibly contain its power namely me. Sealed within me is the most feared being in the world, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and as such I am indirectly hated and feared for what I contain, they can't see past the demon."

Hinata was horrified and her expression showed it, the person in front of her housed the most evil being in existence. She was absolutely frightened and wanted to run, she had to run. She quickly scanned the area looking for the quickest and most direct route to flee until she saw the sadness in his eyes, his blue eyes that she could stare at forever. When he saw her frightened look, he bowed his head in defeat as tears pored out, for the first time in a long while he was crying, crying because he knew no one his age could really care for him. Hinata couldn't take it anymore, when she actually looked at him, she couldn't see a demon, she could only see a love deprived person almost ready to give up on himself and she was the only person that could do anything for him. If she was to do anything more in life, she needed to be strong for him now.

Naruto felt something brush across his face wiping his tears away, but he still has his eyes closed trying to block out the images of everyone's hatred. He then felt a small soft hand under his chin tilting his head up, yet he still didn't want to open his eyes. Feeling moist warm air cross his face, he wondered what that could have been until his question was answered. Something soft and silky smooth touched his lips and he immediately remembered where he felt that touch before, he was being kissed. His eyes jolted open, but all he could see was dark hair and the side of her face where he could see a single tear flow down her cheek. A single hand snaked its way behind his head and held him tighter to her lips and he closed his eyes to enjoy the moment even if it wouldn't last.

Hinata was in heaven, she was kissing her life long crush, and he wasn't protesting. Her mind threw out the feelings of fear as she only could love this person, he was no demon. She was happy, but felt the hunger to have more; to really show him that this wasn't a pity kiss but something that meant more. She lightly parted her lips making way for her tongue as it touched his lips asking for entry. When he felt the wetness of her tongue slide across his lips he was quite surprised, since he never knew what it meant, until he felt it wiggle its way past his lips. She was allowed entry and immediately her tongue wandered deeper until she felt his tongue push hers out. She disappointedly retracted hers and was about to break the kiss when she noticed that he didn't want to stop kissing, but wanted a good taste of hers as it was his tongue that was now intruding in her mouth. Their tongues fought and wrestled with each other for a while until they mutually decided it was time to break it off.

"Whoa, who would have thought it, the most beautiful kunoichi in Konoha was interested in a failure like me… I wouldn't have believed it even if someone told me, you even implyed it and I still didn't believe it."

"What, beautiful? I don't think I'm that attractive at all."

"And they call me the idiot… Have you really ever looked at yourself? You have always been the cutest and most beautiful, but between your shyness, that huge jacket, and that father of yours, no one could let themselves believe that you were." Hinata looked herself over and noticed that her shirt was still wet, and clearly was more revealing in its state. Jumping up, blushing, she ran behind a tree and put on her mostly dry shirt they washed and came back out to the open. "So then, how much do you really like me? I mean no one kisses a friend like that… I mean wow."

"Well, I um, it's… well you see I" 'come on you can do it, just tell him, you've already made out with him, just do it' she told herself trying to build up confidence. "Um… I don't think I even like you at all… I-I think it's more like l-love."

"Love? I guess that really does make since now but I'm afraid that… I don't love you," Hinata felt her heart start to shatter before he explained, "but that isn't because I'm not willing. You are a great person and I'd be stupid to ignore you or your feelings, but I don't think your father and the village would make it easy on you."

"My father doesn't matter anymore, I disowned them and am living on my own and the villagers can just screw themselves. I've changed, so no one will keep me from what I want."

"You really haven't changed all that much, you just got a confidence boost; actually a huge confidence boost. Come on, we need to be going. I now have someone to come home for and as such I now believe Konoha stands as you said. Let's go home." They packed up the clean clothing and set out once again for Konoha. They walked and talked a bit, but nothing about their relationship. Hinata was puzzled to say the least; she knew his deepest secret, she knew he liked how she looked, but she just couldn't figure out why he seemed like he was avoiding her touch like a plague. Inevitably night has to come and with it the travelers decided to sleep for the night.

After making a small fire they cooked a small meal, with fish from a nearby river. They made some small conversation before Hinata felt it necessary to try and sleep by the fire. She got herself comfortable and dozed off while Naruto stared into the flames of the fire thinking. (FYI: they would have used stuff from Hinata's pack throughout the trip, but it was lost after her fight, just incase you were wondering)

'Hinata, I just can't figure you out. You say you love me; I can understand that now after looking back at how you acted around me. Where I have the problem is the how and why. You are a gifted kunoichi from a wealthy family; it is completely beneath your clan to even look at someone like me, but you ended up as a much better person than that stupid clan wanted you to. I want to return your love, you may even need it as much as I do, but I just don't know how. Maybe if…' He looked up from the diminishing flame and saw her form shivering from the loss of warmth from the fire. 'Yes, that is what I should do. I'll just follow my heart… I just need to make you feel happy and safe.'

He stood up and walked over to where she was sleeping and looked at her shivering body. Feeling stupid for not bringing a blanket and wanting her to be comfortable, he lay down beside her. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her into his chest warming her body. He felt her shivering stop and her arms unconsciously wrap around him as she smiled in her sleep. "Goodnight Hinata-chan, I'll always be here from now on." He kissed her forehead and dozed off to sleep.

* * *

...Later


	5. Chapter 5

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 5

Last Chapter Summary: Lots happened. Naruto and Hinata shared their first kiss after splashing around in the river. Naruto then explained to her about his demon. Hinata was at first scared but seeing him emotional was enough to bring her out of it. They kissed once again a little longer and she confessed her love to him.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

Another day, another sunrise bringing travelers, far and wide, out from their slumber. As usual our two travelers weren't exempt from the sun's evil light. Hinata was first to begin the waking process and was quite surprised to find most of her was warm while her back was quite cold. She felt a slight weight on her side and peeked out from behind her eyelids to see what was causing it. When she saw what, or more accurately who, it was, she smiled a huge smile and hugged him tightly and nuzzled her face to his chest. In doing those actions, she managed to quicken Naruto's ascension to consciousness.

"Good morning Hinata-chan, you sleep well." The yawning blonde asked startling her.

"Oh, I, yes I slept well, thank you." Hinata was about to untangle herself from his grasp when he surprised her with a quick kiss on the lips.

"Let's go Hinata-chan, we should be home before noon." They got up and got the few things they had and set off once again.

Hinata was quite happy now that she knew he did like her, but was trying to figure out how to break it to him that his apartment has been rented out to someone. She was wondering how she could use the situation to further her relationship when coincidentally Naruto asked her something along the same lines.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, do you know if my apartment was rented out? I'm sure that bastard would have done that the moment I was declared a missing nin."

"Um, well… yes it was rented out." She replied shyly

"Well crap, I really wanted some of that stuff I left there, it wasn't too important, more like sentimental… Oh well, now where am I going to sleep or live?"

"I think the tenant that replaced you kept some things, and I think she is quite nice and may even let you live there for a while."

"Well that's great and all, but even some of the nicest people are mean to me, she'll probably be the same."

"I don't think so, I'm pretty sure she would gladly let you in." she informed him while smiling a knowing smile.

"Huh, how do you know?"

"Well, I know her very well seeing as I sleep with her every night." She calmly stated trying to hold back a laugh

"What!? You're into girls!?" He shouted causing Hinata to just lose it and is now holding her sides in fits of laughter.

"No silly, I only like spiky, blonde haired, blue eyed men. It's me that is renting your old apartment… " Naruto's eyes lit up after being so easily tricked.

"I think you may have watched me too much when you were younger. That was masterfully done." He complimented her on her prank/joke.

"Thank you, so what do you say?"

"About?"

"Living with me for a while, you know the apartment is small, but two people could easily live there."

"I … I don't know. Where would I sleep?"

"Well, um you can sleep in the bed… it's large enough for two."

"Huh, but we just started to kind of like each other, well I have anyways. Wouldn't it be weird to do that?"

"We don't have to do anything, unless you want to…" She smiled evilly, but sexily, "but anyways, we've slept together the past two nights so what's the difference?"

"Hinata, you're bad. I never took you for thinking perverted thoughts."

"My thoughts aren't perverted," she defended, "It isn't perverted when love is in the mix."

"Alright fine, I'll try living with you, but if it gets weird, I'm out of there." Hinata was practically jumping for joy after he agreed to live with her. She was so happy that she didn't even notice he started walking again. Running back to her side, Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her forward snapping her out of her daze.

"You thinking more perverted thoughts about me?" he asked making her blush deeply, when he got no answer he answered it for himself. "hmm I guess so."

"No, I wasn't" she pouted "I was thinking intimately about you." She continued her pouting which made Naruto smile.

"I don't see the difference, but that pout makes me want to kiss you."

"Why don't you then?" she teased making him stop in his tracks and taking command of her small lips by giving her a warm tender kiss.

"There, now we must get going, If we keep stopping every time one of us wants to kiss the other, then we'll get nowhere." Naruto kept hold of her hand and guided her down the trail to Konoha. A little over an hour later the gates of Konoha came into view they were finally returning home.

"I can see the gates of Konoha, we're almost home." she remarked loudly

"Hinata-chan… I only see rubble where the gate is supposed to be."

"What do you mean? I'm looking right at it. It is there like always…"

"Well I just see destruction like the last time I was here. Do you think something is wrong with me? Why do I see something that isn't there?"

"Let me check something… Byakugan." Veins by her eyes bulge as chakra has poured into her eyes activating her bloodline ability. Hinata looked at Naruto up and down and sees nothing out of the ordinary. "Well I don't se evidence of a genjutsu… What are you doing?" she asks when she feels a warm hand brush across her temples.

"Oh, um, sorry. I have just always wanted to touch your face when you have the Byakugan active… those veins feel neat." Naruto leans over and plants a kiss on her temple causing her to giggle.

"Stop that," she giggled, "That tickles, my skin is very sensitive there right now."

"You know you still look beautiful with that active." He kisses her temple again

"I said stop, it tickles," she deactivated her Byakugan and pulled on his arm still giggling. "Come on, we need to get you to the Hokage, there has to be something going on with you and we need to get it fixed because I want a real date out of you."

"Alright… you know, I think I like the bossy Hinata, she's really sexy like that"

"Oh shut up already… use a henge and change yourself, you don't want to be noticed." She ordered

"Yes mistress what ever you command," he joked and got a light slap on the shoulder, "Like I always say, the best way to be unnoticed, is to be noticed." Naruto transformed himself into a half dressed, well endowed blonde, but this one didn't have the whisker marks like usual.

"If you get caught like that, I'll be tempted to not help you when Anbu comes."

"Bah, you worry too much Hinata-chan I'll be fine… but I did just think up an awesome prank that includes you, but you can't know it yet it just too good to share right now."

"Whatever, let's go." Hinata pulled him towards the gates. Upon arriving the guards were completely mesmerized by the two large chested babes, holding hands, that they didn't even stop them and ask what they wanted.

"Told you it would be easy; around most adult males, a half dressed woman always messes them up." Shaking her head Hinata drug him along. Looking around Naruto felt strange "You know Hinata-chan, this is really weird… I'm walking straight through rubble and ruins like it just isn't there. It's weird." They made their way to the Hokage tower with Hinata trying to avoid as many stares as possible. They entered the tower and found many eyes staring at them as they climbed the stairs to the Hokage's office.

"Why are they staring at us so much," whispered Hinata

"Well you are holding hands with another woman… just think what they would look like if I kissed you." Hinata just realized something at that moment

"That's your prank isn't it?"

"Yep, you in?" he asked with an evil grin

"Definitely" she mirrored his grin with one of her own before they stepped into the office.

"Hinata you're late. You were supposed to be back yesterday, and who is that with you?" demanded Tsunade.

"I'm sorry Tsunade-sama; I ran into a little problem, there was an ambush with 2 low chuunin, 3 high chuunin and 1 elite Jonin. I could only take out the first 5 but I suffered a kunai to my shoulder and lost a lot of blood when I fought the Jonin. I would have died if I wasn't saved by… her."

"Well that is unexpected, but the real question in why are you holding hands with that woman? And are you saying that she saved you from a Jonin?"

"Well hopefully you can fix her; I want to go on a date as soon as possible." She said with a grin.

"You what? Date, her you, Huh?" came Tsunade's messed up response

"Yep, I'm still trying to repay her for helping me." Hinata grabbed the blue eyed blonde and proceeded to do some serious making out, tongues and all. They continued until Tsunade interrupted them with a cough.

"So I see you have lesbian tendencies… I thought you liked men, but I guess that explains why you've had no boyfriends. But didn't you like Naruto? Was that just a cover for being a lesbian?" questioned the Hokage slightly embarrassed by her forwardness.

"Hey baa-chan! Don't be calling my Hinata-chan a lesbian."

"Who are you calling old! I'm the Hokage! Have some respect! I'll easily beat you down faster than you can blink!" yelled the enraged blonde.

"You _are_ old you just hide it, and we all know you're just keeping that chair warm for me, and I'll have you know, I blinked many times the last time we fought so I'm not afraid of you."

"Huh?" stared Tsunade in uncertainty as the two women in her office were laughing their asses off. Naruto dispelled his henge and looked at the now fuming Hokage.

"You should have seen your face… It was priceless. I can't wait to try it on some others." Laughed Naruto still holding Hinata's hand.

"What the hell? I didn't even sense a henge." Tsunade stated before putting on the serious face. "Now you have some real explaining to do brat. I could have you killed just for being here."

"Settle down baa-chan, I thought Konoha was destroyed, I still see destroyed buildings everywhere, but when I walk through the destroyed building, I see parts that look the way they should. I would have returned if I knew Konoha was still here,"

"Well that is quite interesting… you'll need to be checked out, but first… what's with Hinata and you?"

"Hmm what this?" he lifts his hand that's still holding Hinata's "I really have no idea why or how, but I like it and I wouldn't change any of it." His declaration made both Hinata and Tsunade smile; but it was now back to business when Tsunade put that look back on her face.

"I'm really happy for you two, but we really need to figure what to do about you since your officially a missing nin." Just then an idea hit her. "I got it! I can just use the excuse that I gave you a secret mission and had to make you a missing nin for your cover vital for the mission. I can say now that you have completed your first solo A rank mission, congratulations. I do hope you know you won't get paid for it."

"I don't care, I'll just take you fixing what I see as payment. All these conflicting images are ripping my mind apart even worse that that stupid fox ever did." The Hokage's face paled at him mentioning that in front of Hinata. Seeing her look he smiled at her. "Don't worry, I already told her about it. If I said it didn't bother her, I'd definitely be lying but she was able to see past the demon. Although after seeing her reaction to it, I definitely won't be telling anyone else anytime soon, it just hurt way too much." Hinata looked down at the ground feeling ashamed for being so frightened, but Naruto wasn't one to let her fell bad about it. With just a smile and a squeeze of the hand she was brought out of her guilt and back to the realm of happiness.

"Alright brat, lets get you checked out." The Hokage sat him down in a chair and forced him to let go of Hinata's hand, (you don't want to touch someone with a scanning jutsu being used on them now do you?), after doing a few hand signs her hand started to glow with chakra as she moved them around trying to find a possible cause for his condition suddenly Tsunade's face lit up from an 'aha' moment. "Well I think I found what it was I was looking for. It seems you were hypnotized."

"Um… Tsunade-sama, what does being hypnotized do?" asked Hinata full of concern.

"Well I guess you could say it is similar to a genjutsu, but it affects the brain directly instead of being just an illusion. With a genjutsu your senses 'see' something that isn't there where as being hypnotized your brain interprets incorrectly what your senses 'see'."

"Sure, yeah, gotcha… so uh… how do we fix it." Asked the stumped blonde.

"You didn't understand a word of it did you?" the blonde Hokage shook her head after seeing his blank face. "Well I guess the best way is to shock your system into resetting your brain."

"Great baa-chan, that sounds easy. What do I have to do?"

"Right now I have to do all the work, but you'll have your share of pain in this." She smiled evilly as she looked at his perplexed visage. "It is usually just a one step process, but you tend to make things more difficult, so now it is a two step process. Step one, I apologize to some one: I'm sorry Hinata, Step 2," before either could question the technique or ask why she needed to apologize to Hinata, Naruto saw the fist of Tsunade come straight at him knocking him back and embedding him in the concrete wall behind where he once sat. Hinata was very worried for his safety and went to rescue him. She pulled his unconscious body out of the wall and laid his head in her lap as she worriedly stroked his hair.

"Tsunade-sama, why did you hit him so hard? You could have killed him."

"Like I said before, I'm sorry, but I did need to hit him hard enough to knock him out, and with his hard head, I needed excessive force to get the job done. Don't worry though; he should come to in about half a day or so, even with his ability to heal."

Just as she finished her short apology, her jaw dropped as she witnessed what was now taking place. Coughing harshly, Naruto's eyes weakly opened. Seeing Hinata gazing at him caused a smile to grow on his face. Hinata leaned down and planted a caring kiss on his lips and then helped him to stand. After standing Naruto looked right at Tsunade with a slight bit of anger.

"Damn it baa-chan, that really freaking hurt. You could have just warned me; instead I get treated to an Ero-Sennin special. I have half a mind to…" He looked out the window of the office and saw the entire city still in tact and caught a glimpse of something almost appalling. "Holy hell, that has to be the worst face I could imagine seeing up there. Have to say that face on the mountain has got to go, it's disturbing!" that definitely struck a chord with the busty Hokage as she stood with anger written all over her. She cocked a fist back and threw a quick punch towards Naruto, but felt nothing but air. Then she noticed he wasn't there anymore sighing in frustration she went to sit back down in her chair to, once again, find just air and fell on her back side.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU BRAT!"

"Oops I went a little overboard, come on Hinata, let's scram, this could get ugly." Looking away from Hinata he saw Tsunade's face twisted with rage, "Nope it already is ugly… Run Hinata! She's gonna blow! The two ran out the door, Naruto pulling a slightly scared, slightly amused girl behind him and slamming the door leaving a steaming mad Hokage behind. Tsunade tried to calm her self and was succeeding slowly until a spiky blonde head popped through the doorway. "Oh, by the way, thanks for fixing my head baa-chan." Naruto retracted his head just in time to avoid the stapler that is now sticking out of the wrong side of the wall.

* * *

...Later


	6. Chapter 6

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 6

Last Chapter Summary: The couple returned to Konoha and found out Naruto was somehow hypnotized and that was why he saw what wasn't there. That of course was after getting a little prank in on the Hokage. Tsunade released the hypnotic trace by bashing his head in and he retaliated with a few more pranks.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

The sun was on its last trek of the day as it quickly approaches the horizon to take its place ushering in the night. Running from the Hokage Tower you could see two busty, beautiful women, holding hands, running down the street towards the Hokage monument. The two arrived at the top of the monument as the blonde woman went up in a puff of smoke revealing spiky blonde hair and a masculine face.

"Naruto-kun, I think you may have overdone it with the Hokage."

"Nah, don't worry Hinata-chan, she may have quite the temper, but a good nap and some saké makes her anger fade, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

"Well, ok, if you say so. Anyways, why did you bring me up here, I never even knew you could come up here."

"We really shouldn't be up here, but I've always gone up here to think. I brought you up here to show you the only place I went to avoid everyone." Naruto gazes across the village but notices something isn't quite right about what he is seeing until he glances at Hinata. "You know, there is something missing, usually I see this dark haired person running down that street headed towards the high class district. I never really could figure out who it was and why they were always running that way at the precise time I would sit up here; that is until today." Hinata looked at him unknowingly trying to figure out what he was talking about.

"Don't give me that look Hinata; you know exactly who I'm referring to. You always seemed to loose me when you were stalking me around here didn't you?" Hinata squeaks and tries to hide behind the nearest tree while turning red in embarrassment. Naruto now chuckling calls to her, "Come on Hinata, get your cute self back out here. You're going to miss what I brought you out here for."

"No," she squeaked in reply still hiding from him "you think I'm some sort of weird fan girl or something don't you?" She peaks around the tree to get a glimpse of him but sadly notices he wasn't there anymore. Sadness crept up on her as she felt that he had left her because he was weirded out by her spying. Tears threatened to fall from her face until she felt warm hands glide over her hips and slide across her abs until they stopped and pulled her tightly to a warm mass causing her tears to fade.

"Hinata-chan," he whispered in her ear, "You get way to emotional, I think you may be the only one to ever love me, and I will never let that go, so don't ever think that anything you do could chase me away." Naruto let her go and situated himself at the base of the tree in a sitting position. Hinata went to sit next to him when he reached out and pulled her into his lap as she squealed in surprise. Wrapping his arms protectively around her she lets her surprise fade as she leans back into his chest. They sat there for a few moments relaxing. Right before Hinata fell asleep, Naruto shook her form and motioned her with his hand to look up. She stared in the direction he pointed wide eyed.

"Naruto-kun… it's so beautiful." Hinata stared in awe as she looked out upon the village as the setting sun cast purples reds oranges and yellows across the buildings seemingly lighting the sky on fire. The clouds were outlined in a gold sheen as they floated in the fiery sky giving it a heavenly aura. "Between training, missions, and my over bearing father, I've never been able to take the time and watch a sunset. Actually come to think about it, I've never played in the water like I did with you the other day either. I think I have truly found what my life has been missing, I've never had fun."

"I'm surprised you turned out like you did, if you can't have fun you would end up like Neji and Sasuke-teme, I was kept from having fun myself, but that was when I found the joys of pranking. Everyone need to have fun, so let's make a promise to each other, let's try to have fun together at least once per day." Hinata nodded with a smile as they stood up and made their way to the base of the mountain. After replacing his henge the two made their way through the village getting only a few looks from their hand holding. They finally arrived at their destination, the apartment. They climbed the stairs and Hinata then unlocked the door and entered the small room with Naruto right behind, when the door shut the henge was dropped as he started inspecting the familiar, but changed apartment.

He couldn't have ever imagined the place could look so nice. He continued looking at all the new furniture and appliances until his eyes fell on the book case that was just inside the door. He saw every object he felt was valuable to him displayed neatly. The picture of team 7 was in the middle while his old goggles rested to the left and his first set of kunai occupied the area to the right of the photo. Above the book case hung a framed display of a bright orange jumpsuit showing off the symbols from the back and shoulders. Naruto felt his eyes burn as tears freely flowed from his face while he looked upon the slight shrine like set up. Hinata turned and faced him and saw the tears falling down his cheeks.

"Is there something wrong Naruto-kun?" she asked before she noticed the direction of him gaze. Shrieking in embarrassment Hinata didn't know what to do. If he didn't think she was weird before, he would definitely think that now. She immediately started apologizing until she was silenced with a finger to her lips.

"When you said you loved me, I thought it was that stupid love like Sakura loving Sasuke, but after seeing this… I just can't think straight. All the love and caring you have shown for me in the past few days is more than I have received in my life… It's only been a few days, but I-I think you're making me fall in love with you already." Hinata was speechless she was barely able to accept the possibility that he could love her at some point in time, but so soon, she couldn't fathom it.

"I-I-I…I" Hinata couldn't put her happiness into words; she just can't seem to say anything slightly intelligent. Instead of trying to speak, she just went in for a kiss instead but was halted when he continued talking.

"So, Hinata-chan, just to make it official… will you be my girlfriend?"

"You never had to ask, I always was your girlfriend and you only needed to become my boyfriend since you already had my heart." With that statement, they kissed, and they kept kissing until they sickened the author and he had to stop the insanity.

"Hinata-chan, what I'm going to say right now is going to sound strange, but don't take it the wrong way; I need you to take off your shirt," Her eyes widened as she tried to grasp what he was saying, "To check your wound. Hello? Remember your shoulder?" this snapped her out of her surprised daze.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't feel it hurting. It's just a little stiff, but I'm sure it's fine."

"That wasn't what I was asking, I need to check it out; you know that just because it doesn't hurt doesn't mean that there still isn't anything wrong." Reluctantly she agreed and whipped off her shirt right there sporting a dark red tinge to her face. Her blush deepened when she saw his wide eyed open mouthed reaction. "I really wasn't expecting the whole show, I was just expecting a look at just your shoulder." He sputtered out before Hinata thought she did something horribly stupid and apologized and tried to cover herself.

"Hinata," he called out trying to get her attention but she was still trying to apologize until he grabbed her wrists and pulled her arms, which were frantically trying to cover herself, straight down to her sides. "Hinata, it's fine. You are completely beautiful like that and besides, you are still completely covered, now let me check your wound." After sliding her bra strap off her shoulder; he removes the bandages to reveal completely healed skin where the wound was located. "Well it looks like you are healed now."

"What?" she hollered out in amazement. She brought her hand over and looked and touched the area where a massive wound used to be. "How could it heal so fast? What did you use to make it heal like that? It must be amazing."

"Uh, yeah, it was made by this most beautiful girl I met many years ago. She gave it to me after I was injured in a fight, but I could never figure out why she wasted it on me until a few days ago" he told her.

"Really, who was this beautiful girl?" she asked with a hint of jealousy. Seeing her attitude towards this, he decided to rely on his pranking instincts and take it a bit further.

"Well I suppose you could say she was amazing," he explained while looking up like he was dreaming. "She was amazingly strong, had a wonderful personality, and was the sweetest person I have ever met. When I saw her again, after a few years, I realized I liked her a lot and asked her to be my girlfriend." Hinata looked slightly miffed about there being another woman that he asked to be his girlfriend.

"So what did she say then?" she pried.

"Well it was the weirdest thing, she said yes, kissed me, and then ripped of her shirt like a maniac." Hinata now had the most confused look on her face which caused Naruto to start laughing. He pulled out a small brown jar of ointment from his side pouch and handed it to her; the ointment she gave him during the chuunin exam. Hinata was definitely embarrassed now, and it showed. The red color spread around her body to the point where her stomach was starting to turn pink.

"I didn't rip my shirt off like a maniac," she defended "and my ointment was never that good."

"For me it was, I found that the moment it came in contact with my wounds I healed instantly," he explained. "So I found out that it I put some of my chakra into the wound with the ointment, it heals others exceptionally fast."

"Well, I wonder if I could make some more and have you place some of your chakra in it with mine. We might have an excellent life saving salve." She threw out definitely excited.

"I never knew you had such a passion for medical stuff Hinata-chan. So tell me then, since you seem to know so much about that stuff, what is the best way to get stiffness out of ones shoulder?" he asked.

"Um, well I guess the easiest is to just massage the muscles until the stiffness lessens. Why do you ask?"

"Well your shoulder is kind of sore isn't it? I just thought I could help you out with it."

"You don't have to. I'll be fine." She stated before shouldering her strap again and picked up her shirt. Only to have her wrist grabbed again.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. I'd do anything to help you feel the slightest bit better." Hinata thought about it; her rebellious side said to let him touch what and where he wanted, while her conservative side said to go ahead, he's offering a free massage. Obviously she really couldn't refuse with that kind of reasoning.

"Ok Naruto-kun, but um, it should be done while I'm uh laying down so um… come on" she nervously pulled him into the bedroom where she pulled out an unopened bottle of massaging oil from the closet and handed it to him. "Use this, It'll make it easier." She then went over to the bed and laid flat on her stomach with her left shoulder towards the edge of the bed. Naruto, nervous as well, stood by the edge of the bed, slipped her strap back off her shoulder and poured some of the oil on his hands to warm it. He set to work kneading the muscles in her shoulder. He worked her injured shoulder until he felt the tightness fade away with her small quiet moans of relief.

"How's that Hinata-chan?"

"That was very good, but can I ask you something?"

"Sure"

"Could you possibly do my whole back? Those muscles feel kind of stiff as well."

"Um, why not… I'd be happy to."

"Good, could you turn around for a bit?" Looking a bit confused he complied with her request. Just a few short moments later she called for him to turn back around and there he saw her naked back since her bra was now lying on the floor. She saw his surprised face and smiled "Is there a problem Naruto-kun?" she asked as sexily as she could.

"Um… no, no problem at all." Naruto was mesmerized by the view of her pale soft skin, never has he seen this much of a woman just lying before him (research for his jutsu doesn't count). Shaking the thoughts from his head he approached her again and started kneading her shoulders moving down to her back. He slowly worked her muscles when he felt some particularly tense ones he made sure to pay extra attention to them. He found satisfaction in his work when he would feel the tension leave her muscles and the satisfying moan that accompanied them. After another 10 minutes of massaging, she stopped making sounds all together except for the steady breathing of being asleep. He continued for another 10 minutes just to be sure all the muscles were well relaxed before he stopped. Feeling the change of movement Hinata slightly woke up.

"That was wonderful, can you lay down with me for a while to rest?" she groggily asked. Not wanting to disappoint her, he decided lying down to keep her company wouldn't hurt; besides after a few minutes he would get up and sleep on the couch since she was slightly indecent. That of course was the last thing that he thought of before he fell fast asleep.

* * *

... Later


	7. Chapter 7

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 7

Last Chapter Summary: A whole night of just joking and slightly awkward moments with Naruto officially asking Hinata to be his girlfriend.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks (beware, I've been adding my two cents worth every so often)

* * *

The next morning Naruto felt he had slept better than he has in ages. He realized that he didn't move to the couch like he planned on, but he figured that if he kept his eyes closed, there couldn't be anything embarrassing. While trying to think of what to do today and trying not to think of the state of dress Hinata was in, he felt the other occupant of the bed grab him and pull his head into something very soft and warm. (actually two things, but I suppose you would have guessed that)

"Good morning Hinata-chan." He called out to see if she was awake without opening his eyes.

"Good morning Naruto-kun," she yawned out in response.

"You sleep well?" he asked

"Very much so"

"Say Hinata, did you by some chance put different clothes on last night?"

"No, I just woke up now." She revealed still not opening her eyes.

"Then… Um… Did it occur to you where you placed my head this morning?"

"No, I just wanted you closer so I… EEEP!" Naruto's head was dropped hard on the bed as Hinata frantically searched for clothes once she figured out what she did. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't mean to do that I..."

"No need to apologize Hinata-chan, you did it by accident, I understand. It didn't bother me in the least (we all know he enjoyed it, what guy wouldn't), but I thought you would want your privacy for now." Hinata found some clothing and quickly put them on. Seeing Naruto's eyes still closed, she smiled. Most men would be trying to get a look at a mostly naked female body and here she is right in front of probably the only person polite enough to give her privacy.

"You can open your eyes now" she watched as his eye lids open revealing those crystal blue orbs she was so fond of. "I have the next few days off, so what would you like to do today?"

"Well, I think I need some new clothes. I thought I was doing well with what I have, but after returning here, I see just how damaged my clothes were. That and I think finding something to hide my face would be beneficial until my return is announced and I don't want to be a girl all day either. Then, afterwards, maybe we can get our friends together and prank them like we did to Tsunade." (It was good the first time around, and I thought of Kakashi for this time around... just wait and see)

"That sounds good. I never thought pranking was so much fun. It's no wonder you did it so much." She giggled recalling the pranks and jokes. "Alright then, I'll take a shower first and then I'll make breakfast while you shower, then we'll find you some clothes, and then we'll get everyone over to Ichiraku's for lunch. I'll let them all know where to meet us." Since that was settled Hinata grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom to shower. When she walked back out after her shower(no, I'm not describing the shower), clothed in her usual tight shorts and tight shirt, she saw Naruto looking at the floor stomping every so often.

"What are you doing?" she asked while watching him continue.

"I'm trying to find…" he steps on a squeaky board on the floor "Ah, here it is" he announced proudly before pulling the loose board up and retrieving a small box from the floor. He replaced the board back on the floor and set the box on the table. Hinata was curious to see what was in the box that he kept so hidden that even she couldn't see it with her Byakugan. When he opened it, she was amazed at the quantity of what was contained.

"How much money is in there Naruto-kun?"

"Probably more that I should keep in a box, but what does it really matter? If you really think about it, I'm probably the richest person in the village."

"What? There isn't that much in that box."

"No there isn't, but with my necklace here," he pulls it out from his shirt. "I could probably buy the whole village. It is a very rare crystal that the first Hokage made into a necklace and was given to his granddaughter Tsunade and she lost it to me in a bet (If I'm wrong about a detail here, who cares)." Hinata nodded in acknowledgement before he stood and took his turn in the shower; not before he took a good serious look at her body without her knowing it.

Naruto finished his shower and was met with a pleasant aroma as he walked out into the kitchen area. Breathing in the aroma deeply he smiled and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "Your cooking smells wonderful Hinata-chan."

"Thank you Naruto-kun, now sit down and eat." They sat and ate their breakfast. (what they ate is up to your imagination) When they ate Naruto said nothing as he was just occupied with eating while Hinata looked on at his exuberant eating with a smile. They finished eating and placed the dishes in the sink and went to leave the apartment.

"You haven't really said much this morning Naruto-kun. Is something wrong?"

"Nah, I was just thinking, and yes I do think now."

"I wasn't going to argue with that, but what were you thinking of so hard?"

"Actually it was about you. I can't figure out how I went from barely knowing you to not wanting to leave your side in such a short time. It doesn't seem normal to do that, but then again I defy the meaning of normal everyday." They shared a small laugh.

"Just don't think on it too much. Are you at least satisfied where your life is going?"

"Actually right now I've found that being Hokage isn't the highest thing on my list of wants anymore. I realized I could easily be satisfied with my life just by knowing I was loved. Come on; let's get going before I think myself into marriage." He saw Hinata's face brighten at that word and he chuckled shaking his head. "You maybe ready for that after a few days, but I'm not quite there yet." Catching a glimpse of her shoulder, He then realized the significance of Hinata's new symbol she wore; a combination of his and hers like they were already married. 'I am sure that will happen as well, but I just need to catch up a bit' he thought as they walked out the door. Stepping outside the apartment, Naruto used henge to return to the form of the blonde bombshell and after grabbing the hand of Hinata, they made their way to the shopping district.

As they walked through the crowds, Naruto wondered why he never thought of doing this before, sure he got some lecherous grins, but he never once saw an evil glare or heard an insult. The best part was every store they entered, they were welcomed warmly and wasn't ever thrown out. He got to see the inside of stores and shops that he didn't even know existed in the village, it was like a whole different world as he looked at everything with child like eyes. While he was enjoying himself looking at everything, Hinata was also enjoying herself greatly by watching her love experience things he has never done before. Of course between smiling at his enthusiasm, she admired some items as well.

After they had their fun of wandering though shops, they came to the real reason they were out; finding some clothing. Hinata brought Naruto to the place where she always came for her clothes. When they walked in he nearly lost it; the place was huge. There were two floors to the store and it was mostly packed with any clothing you could think of, and if by some chance they didn't have it, they would make it for you.

"Oh, Hinata-sama, it's so nice to see you again. Is there anything I could help you find?" greeted a petite female salesperson, Mina.

"We're just looking for something for my boyfriend… and didn't I tell you to stop calling me Hinata-sama?"

"Yes you're right, my apologies Hinata-san. So is your boyfriend here? I would like to meet the fortunate man that finally managed to get a hold of you." Now blushing slightly Hinata answered after seeing her still female boyfriend.

"Well he is around here somewhere, with him being a shinobi, he could be anywhere. My friend and I will shop for him until he shows."

"Very well Hinata-san. I'll be around if you need my assistance." With a bow, Mina disappeared to the back of the shop.

Hinata drug her boyfriend around the store with very little protest since it was his idea. They managed to find many things that caught his eye, and to Hinata's relief, most weren't orange. Taking quite a few clothing into a dressing room, Naruto dispelled the henge and tried on the various combinations until he ended up with something he liked. He now wore durable black pants, with integrated kunai holsters with many other pockets (think cargo style), along with a dark orange shirt, since it was his color. Completing his look was Kakashi like mask and steel backed gloves accompanied by a black trench coat. Stepping out of the dressing room he caught the blushing gaze of his girlfriend, and a stunned gasp from the sales woman that came running towards them.

"My, my Hinata-san… I guess you were holding out for someone extraordinary. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was a descendent of the Yondaime himself," stated the saleswoman. Hinata just stared at Naruto just now noticing just how true those words were but put them to the back of her mind for later contemplation.

"Thank you Mina-san, I always knew I picked the right person for me."

"That you did, but you should probably keep an eye on him, you may need to beat other girls off him." Hinata was about to respond to that, but Naruto beat her to it

"Well actually I might have to be the one beating down the guys after Hinata-chan… I'm sure there has to be a lot of them." He stated with certainty.

"Ah yes that is true, but you shouldn't have a problem with that." After the saleswoman finished talking the owner came running up to them.

"AH! It really is you, isn't it?" he yelled out grasping Naruto's hand in an aggressive handshake. "I heard that you may never return here, but I am finally able to meet you in person; oh what a great day for me." The two young ninja looked on in confusion at the middle-aged man nearly praising the ground Naruto walked on.

"Excuse me, but you must have me confused with someone else." Naruto said still baffled.

"No, I don't believe so I can forget that hair. It may have been quite a few years ago, but I could never forget you Uzumaki-sama you saved so many people so early in your life. We are forever in your debt." He spoke out while profusely bowing.

"Huh?" questioned Hinata, Naruto, and Mina simultaneously.

"Ah Mina my dear, I would like you to meet one of the liberators of wave country Uzumaki Naruto namesake of 'The Great Naruto Bridge'" Mina looked to Naruto in awe before she bowed to him as well.

"Um, you guys can stop doing that now. It really was just a job, part of my duty if you will."

"No, that is where you are wrong. Your job was only to protect the master bridge builder Tazuna from harm, you went beyond that by restoring hope in us all though Inari-kun" informed Mina.

"Well, how about this. You guys stop bowing and calling me -sama and I'll be sure to come back here for all my needs."

"You have yourself a deal Uzumaki-san, but you must accept those clothes as a token of our appreciation," begged the owner.

"I don't suppose I can convince you not to," seeing their confirmations he continued, "so at least let me show you a technique I have learned for manipulating clothing with chakra." Naruto channeled some chakra into his trench coat causing it to seemingly burst into flames. Hinata looked in fear that he could be burned, but before she could say or do anything the flames died down revealing red flames printed on the bottom hem and cuffs of the coat. Spinning around to show them all what he did, Hinata gasped in surprise and sported a pink color to her cheeks when she saw what was on his back. There was a large furry nine tailed fox with a symbol of a small flame, with a spiral in the background (same as what she wears), nestled in the fur. "So what do you think Hinata-chan?"

In a flash, Hinata was pulling down his mask and placing a passionate kiss on his lips and staying there for a long few moments before breaking it off. "So then, did I get the purpose behind you symbol you wear now?" The owner and his daughter looked amazed at the change in clothing and had yet to move as the couple walked towards the door in conversation.

Coming out of her daze, she responded. "Yes, but you can only wear it if you will follow through with it in the future." (marriage)

"You can count on it, but in a few years maybe. I still think we are too young right now."

"That's not true, my mother was married at 17 and I was born when she was 18." She informed him.

"Whoa, that is kind of young though. Hey why are we talking of marriage again? It has been less than a week since you found me and we're on that topic. You sure move fast. To think, if I realized your feelings when we were 12 you'd probably want to be married by 13."

"You're probably right about that Naruto-kun. Once I know I have you I'd make sure you had no way out." She giggled

Shaking his head in confusion, "I still don't get it, that phrase should easily scare off guys, but it just makes me want to be with you more. Six days ago I never thought you, or anyone, could love me and now I'm contemplating marriage. If everything goes that fast, we'll have 2 kids by next week!"

"I'm sure even you know that can't happen that fast... Um, so where did you learn how to change colors of your clothes like that?" she asked changing the subject for him.

"That is probably one of the few perks of having an over 9000 year old fox stuck in you."

"So he teaches you stuff?"

"Not really, he is a bastard through and through, but every so often I'll get some memories that aren't my own and I learn some stuff. Anyways lets roll I've got some people to prank… you contacted everyone to get together right Hinata-chan?"

"Yes, they should all be there in about another 15 minutes or so"

"Great, let's go" Naruto put the henge back in place and the two women once again walked through the streets of Konoha making their way to Ichiraku's Ramen shop.

* * *

...Later


	8. Chapter 8

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 8

Last Chapter Summary: Clothes shopping… Oh so boring But Naruto did wake up to a pleasant surprise

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

"Hey guys!" shouted Kiba as he walked towards the small group waiting consisting of Shino, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Lee, Tenten, Neji and their senseis, except Kakashi.

"Anyone know why Hinata asked us here? I mean it's great to get together with you guys, but there has to be a reason since she never sets up these meetings, especially since it isn't Wednesday." Inquired Kiba

"Who needs a reason when you're a troublesome woman…?" lazily replied Shikamaru while Choji ate some chips next to him in relative silence while the females of the group shouted and tried to destroy him.

"Hey guys, there's Hinata, but she's with some other hot chick" announced Kiba getting everyone's attentions.

"Um, Hi everyone." Hinata greeted when they got to the group "I suppose you all would like to know why I asked you all here?"

"It's probably too troublesome anyways."

"Whatever Shika, we all know that you are dying to hear the answer like the rest of us, so go ahead Hinata." Persuaded Ino.

"Ok, well during my last mission I met someone and we kind of fell in love." Everyone went silent in shock and was pretty much thinking the same thing, how. "Um, I guess we got talking and somehow we found out that we wanted to be with each other and earlier today we even got on the topic of marriage. I decided to bring 'her' by to meet you all." Everyone was now even further stunned.

"Her? You mean you're going to marry the blonde next to you? I don't believe it." Strangely enough it was Shino who asked this which would have surprised everyone if they weren't preoccupied with the same topic.

"Yes, with the blonde next to me, let me show you if you think I'm lying." Hinata stepped closer to the blonde and pressed her lips to 'hers' starting the kiss. Deepening the kiss they went into an all out make out session. The entire group's jaws dropped to the ground while Tenten had to try and keep Neji from choking on the air he was breathing but had troubles breathing herself. Just then Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Sorry I'm late I was…" his one eye opened wide at the scene in front of him and messed up what he was saying "There was a tree… stuck up a cat… and I threw an old lady into traffic to help," was his poor excuse. Just then the silver haired Jonin caught a glimpse of something before his eye went back to normal and gave out a chuckle. "He has gotten good, real good. I almost missed it." All eyes turned to him until laughter drew their attention back to the couple as Kakashi pulled out his little book.

"I.. sorry… we… couldn't help it…" Hinata laughed sweetly once again shocking some of the group that haven't heard her laugh before. They all watched the two laughing forms until a flash of light and smoke revealed a blonde guy in a black trench coat with flames, and a face mask laughing in front of them.

"Oh man, I needed a camera; that was priceless. You guys were so stunned that even Shino showed he was actually alive. That was awesome." Laughed Naruto

"So it was all a joke Hinata?" asked Ino. Getting a nod she jumped up and ran to her side staring at the blonde. "So who really is this blonde hotty then?" she grabbed his arm and held it to her body which of course angered Hinata.

"Hands off Ino, only the part about him being a female was a joke not anything else." Seeing the intense glare from Hinata, she quickly let go and ran back to her table in fear.

"So," Sakura started "you are in love with this guy then right? What about your other love, or is it all just because you like blondes and you never had any true feelings for him?"

"No Sakura, I love them both." Hinata smiled

"You can't just love both of them Hinata, you need to choose one or the other. Either this guy or Naruto, it is impossible to want them both." Yelled back Sakura.

"You are wrong, I will have both and nothing will stop me." She declared while trying not to laugh, but failed.

"See Hinata-chan, I told you pranking was a source of great enjoyment" proclaimed Naruto while holding up the laughing girl.

"Yes, you're right Naruto-kun, this is definitely fun."

"What!?" Screamed the group, except Kakashi who was still trying to find a scene close to that last one in his book but was getting more disappointed every second.

"I'm starving Hinata-chan, let's get some ramen. Hey old man, bring me 10 beef and 10 chicken." He called out to the counter.

"No problem Naruto, I'll even give them to you half off for my favorite customer."

Noticing their eyes on him Naruto turned to the group. "Hey guys, what are you guys staring for? It's like you just saw a missing nin walk by and order lunch." Nearly everyone fell off their seats at the stupid joke. "Yeah, I know, lame joke wasn't it? Oh and I'm not a missing nin, just so you guys know" everyone relaxed a bit except for a pink haired girl who threw a punch at his face. He surprised everyone, including Kakashi, when he caught it like it was nothing. "Hey I don't want your love taps Sakura, I'm with Hinata-chan now…" he looked at everyone's shocked looks, "Hey, what's wrong guys, order up, old man doesn't stay open that late." Almost everyone was still staring as Naruto, who nonchalantly pulled up a chair for Hinata and himself. "Hey Dog Boy, where's your puppy?"

"Akamaru is not a puppy anymore, right Akamaru?... Akamaru?" Kiba looked around the area and found the giant dog to be nowhere. "Hey, has anyone seen where Akamaru went?" he just got a series of 'no's until he saw Naruto smiling much too guiltily.

"Naruto, where's Akamaru?"

"I think I saw him in the tree outside with Kakashi's cat." Half of the group turned and found Akamaru was indeed in a tree with a cat, but the giant dog was whimpering.

"Damn it Naruto! He's afraid of cats!"

"Well he's like 5 time the size, why should he be… maybe he met up with Tora when he was younger." Everyone cringed at the name of the daiyamo's wife's cat but really wondered to themselves how the dog got into the tree in the first place without anyone noticing.

After getting seated again, Kiba had to rescue Akamaru, the shock wore off and the questions came flying forward about why he was gone and Hinata's relationship. The group ate and talked for quite a while until Teuchi, owner of Ichiraku's, kicked them out to close up shop. The group said their goodbyes, the senseis left hours before nneding to do their own stuff, and parted ways leaving the new couple alone in the cool night air. (Maybe a short reunion, but it was fun to write)

"So, Hinata-chan, Is there anything else you would like to do?"

"No, not really, let's just walk around a bit before heading home."

They walked, very closely, through the local park. Hinata had her head resting on his shoulder while his arm was wrapped around her thin waist. Walking in silence they admired the serene landscape almost as much and they looked at each other. Since it was getting colder out Hinata just led him back to the apartment instead of voicing her chill. They entered the small apartment and Naruto took off his trench coat and hung it on the coat hook where it returned to the store bought solid black and removed his mask. Hinata went into the bedroom where she changed into her sleeping attire while Naruto sat on the couch with sleep threatening to approach.

After changing, Hinata opened the door again and allowed her boyfriend to enter. Throwing out all her reservations, she leapt to his arms and madly kissed him. Not slowing up she continued as she secretly inched him closer to the bed. When she felt she was close enough, she caused herself to fall backwards to the bed pulling him down on top of her without even breaking the kiss. They still continued their kissing when Hinata got bold once again and rolled them both over with her now lying on top of him. She slid his hands from her waist up to each of her breasts so he was holding one in each hand. Quickly he broke the kiss and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm not ready for this Hinata, we should stop." He told her.

"Why? Am I not attractive enough?" she asked with disappointment.

"NO…" he gave her a squeeze, causing her to squeak (you remember where his hands are right? what a perv, or maybe just a guy) "That definitely isn't it. I just feel we are moving too fast. I know I've said it before, but you just ignored most of it. Most every other guy alive would be dying to be in my shoes right now, but I'm just a different type of guy. I don't want our first time to happen when I just scratched the surface of this thing called love. I want to be fully in love with you when that happens so it truly means something, ok?" he rolled her off of him but stayed lying next to her.

"I'm sorry; I keep forgetting that this is actually happening and not a dream where you have no free will. I've wanted to be with you so bad that I never really thought about it actually happening. I am glad you want it to mean so much; so, I will wait until you're ready; just don't keep me waiting forever."

"That's a deal my beautiful Hinata; actually I'll make that a promise so I can't break it." He kissed her cheek and closed his eyes to sleep, only opening them again when he felt Hinata snuggle up very close and then they both relaxed and fell asleep.

* * *

The evil light signifying morning never had the pleasure of assaulting the optics of the couple seeing as how they were awakened earlier than they wanted. Naruto and Hinata were brought from their sleep by small webbed feet as they contacted their faces. Hinata's eyes snapped open to meet the face of a bright orange toad and let out the loudest noise anyone has ever heard from the shy Hyuuga. Still screaming, she jumped to the other side of Naruto putting him in between her and the toad.

"Damn it Gamakichi, how many time have I told you not to wake me up like that? Now you've gone and scared Hinata-chan." Hinata shyly peaked over him and looked at the orange toad in curiosity.

"Oh my bad; sorry Miss Hinata," Gamakichi apologized, "I was unaware that Naruto had a girl. My name is Gamakichi." Hinata flinched a bit when he started talking but got a hold of herself quickly.

"Um, pleased to meet you. What exactly are you doing in our bedroom?" Hinata asked

"Oh you're living together then? Boy, you sure can pick them Naruto." He commented causing the both of them to blush slightly. "Oh I was sent by the Hokage and Ero-Sennin to fetch you two for something about hypnotizing or something."

"I wonder what the hell they found that we need to be there so early. Well thanks, I guess, Gamakichi. Oh and tell your father I'll settle our deal some time this year."

"Hey, no problem. Pops will be glad to hear that as well, he has been looking forward to it for a while now." With that the small toad vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"And I was sleeping so well." Naruto whined. Rolling over to look into Hinata's eyes, he smiled. "I could really get used to waking up and seeing your face." Hinata smiles at his comment and got surprised by a quick kiss. "Come on Hinata-chan lets get going, I doubt I want to piss of Tsunade after that last time."

The two of them drug themselves tiredly down the empty streets until they reached the Hokage's office and walked into the room.

"Hey baa-chan, ero-sennin, what the hell, we were sleeping peacefully. What was so important that you couldn't wait until later to tell us?"

"Truthfully, nothing, but after your actions last time, I figured a little payback was in order." Tsunade laughed as Hinata beat her boyfriend playfully for being the cause of the early waking.

"Right, now that I've been beaten by my girlfriend, what did you need to tell us?"

"Actually Jiraiya has returned with some information that could be the cause of your hypnotism." She nodded to the white haired sannin to tell his part.

"Well, brat, when I was spying on the happenings at the sound village, while you were training and then went missing, Orochimaru was trying to conjure up a being from a different dimension, or something, for his next body since Sasuke hasn't unlocked the next level of the Sharingan and he was unsure if he could unlock it on his own if he did switch bodies. Anyways the being he called forth was too powerful for him to subdue by himself, so with Kabuto's help they wrangled it enough to attempt the jutsu but it was much stronger than he thought and absorbed some of the snake bastard's thoughts.(doesn't remove the thoughts or memories) Apparently when it takes thoughts it leaves behind a form of hypnosis blocking some memories and leaving the perception of your greatest fear. We have no idea what this being is after, but it might be acting out some of Orochimaru's plans."

"Great, well at least I should have another 3 years to get Sasuke since he wasted his attempt on the creature right?" Naruto asked while Tsunade decided to field this question.

"That should be correct Naruto, but we should all be on guard, even the Akatsuki have gone into hiding with this being on the loose. We don't know how powerful this thing is or what it wants, but to scare Akatsuki, it must be something. We must also assume it has knowledge of our village and many of its ninja since we believe it made contact with you during your training and my have gotten some of your memories. Just be on your guard, you both will be free from missions, so have some fun."

"And don't do anything I wouldn't do" giggled Jiraiya as the couple was headed for the door.

"There's nothing you wouldn't do ero-sennin" commented Naruto as he continued to the door with his arm around Hinata. "We'll be careful baa-chan…later." Tossing his hand up in a small wave he pulled Hinata carefully out the door. Naruto decided they should go to the park and watch the sun rise for a change of scenery. When they got to the park, they sat on one of the benches and settled in comfortably. Hinata cuddled close as he draped his arm across her shoulder to wait for the sunrise, but the sun never came for them, since they were asleep moments after sitting.

Three hours later they were still sitting on the bench but were finally stirring from their sleep. Still not quite awake yet they wiggled a little closer to each other with Naruto kissing the top of her head.

"Kawaii!" squealed some female voices causing the sleeping couple to snap their eyes open looking for the cause of the disturbance. Sitting right in front of the two were Ino, Sakura, and Tenten watching them closely. "You guys are soooo cute together," Shouted Ino. "Yeah, idiot, why couldn't you have figured that out sooner?" Sakura Shouted, while Tenten just kindly smiled.

"Umm… so how long have you guys been sitting there?" Asked the blushing Hyuuga.

"Well, it has been about an hour now. You guys mumble some of the cutest things while you sleep," informed Ino.

"But now it is time for what we came looking for," said Tenten as she closed in on Naruto stopping about 3 inches from his face, "We need to borrow Hinata for about half of the day. Do you think you can handle being without her until then?" Naruto nervously scratched the back of his head since he felt he was much too close to this kunoichi and ducked away from her.

"I guess I'll survive," giving Hinata a quick kiss he squeezed her in a hug, "Have fun Hinata-chan, I'll take you on that proper date we were talking about after you get back tonight."

"I would like that." She replied happily before she was drug off by the other three kunoichi.

"Well now, what should I do until Hinata-chan gets back?" Naruto pondered to himself out loud. Hearing a rustle of leaves he turned and was face to face with a masked Jonin.

"How about go train? I believe you may be the only one that can possibly do what the Yondaime had planned for the Rasengan." Kakashi told the blonde. (yep, I just have to throw that in here, cliché I know, but he's going to need that extra power)

"Huh? What do you mean Kakashi-sensei? I thought I mastered the Rasengan."

"Ah, but only the first 3 steps of it. There are more steps that even I couldn't do." Kakashi concentrates chakra to his right hand and forms the swirling ball perfectly. "You see Naruto, the Rasengan is the absolute in form manipulation, but it was intended to take on nature manipulation as well, but no one has been able to take it that far, so I will make sure you do it."

"Wow, cool. A technique even the Yondaime Hokage couldn't do… That will definitely help in my plan to surpass all the Hokages."

"That it may, but it will be hard on your body because we will be training the equivalent to maybe 3 years in a day." Naruto's eyes went wide.

"Really, How?"

"Simply by using Kage Bushin; have you seen how you gain their knowledge once they are dispelled?" surprisingly he saw a nod in affirmation. "That surprises me actually; I guess the years away have matured you a bit… Now then I've heard from Jiraiya that you are mostly tuned to the wind element, so we'll begin with that. Make a bunch of Kage Bushins and we'll start."

"How many should we use?"

"Make as many as you can with out depleting your chakra."

"Maybe we should move to a larger area then, this park seems... small." Naruto replied while Kakashi's viewable eye went wide for a short moment.

'How many can he make if this area is too small' wondered Kakashi before he took off putting forth much effort hoping to show up his newly returned student by his speed. He was slightly amused when he saw no one following him, but nearly fell when he saw the reason; he was running next to him without even using much chakra so he couldn't sense him. 'What has he done to himself, this isn't natural. He'll be faster then sensei at this rate.'

They got to the clearing in record time. The place was a large empty grassy field with trees lining one edge and openness on the other. "This should do." Kakashi announced jumping to the ground. With out a word said, Naruto jumped to the center of the field and took off his coat. Kakashi sensed a vast amount of chakra flare when he removed the coat, but it died down just as fast as it spiked.

"What was that Naruto?" Kakashi calmly asked while watching the intricate designs on the coat vanish.

"Oh that? It is just a technique I use to change the color of clothes. It uses a large amount of chakra, but it can make any color clothes you want. You know how hard it was to find orange clothes every time I destroyed a set?"

"How long have you known that technique?"

"I just knew it after pulling Kyuubi's chakra in wave. I think every time I use a portion of his chakra, I learn something new from him. It is almost like I'm absorbing all his knowledge piece by piece. Another cool part is when I pull too much and almost loose control, well not the loosing control part, I can use that same amount the next time I try and I will be in full control. I think it accelerates the process of assimilating his chakra."

"Well then, that isn't what I thought should happen with the seal, anyways, how about you make those bushins then."

"Right," Naruto's pupils turned to slits as he channeled chakra for the technique. The vast amounts of chakra being pulled ripped up the grass around where he was standing. "Taju Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" he called out as the field was filled with Narutos.

* * *

...Later


	9. Chapter 9

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 9

Last Chapter Summary: Real quick, the couple was woken up to be given the news that a new treat looms around the village. The creature was powerful enough for Akatsuki to go into hiding. Hinata was borrowed by the local kunoichis which left Naruto to train his element with Kakashi.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

Kakashi revealed his Sharingan and stared at the mass of Narutos. '10,000 that was beyond unbelievable; that'll be like training for 27 years in one day!' The training commenced, and Kakashi was constantly being surprised at the ability of his student that he initially ignored. Reluctantly he had to agree with him that he was going to be Hokage at this rate, but he wouldn't let him know that.

Surprising him once again Kakashi saw the real Naruto meditating in the center mentally dispelling small amounts of clones and remaking them as to not be over loaded by information. Only an hour went by before Naruto was actually trying to add the manipulation to the Rasengan. Another 5 hours were gone before Naruto collapsed from exhaustion in a massive crater he created with his new, mostly mastered jutsu.

(very short training, but it has all been done before, why change it? The details are close to the original)

"I think you may have over done it Naruto," Kakashi stated with what could be taken as a smile.

"Nah, I just need a little rest. I'll be fine." Just then Tenten and Sakura came into view leaning on each other bloodied from a fight.

"Sakura, Tenten, what happened," asked Kakashi with concern

"We were attacked by this, this thing," replied Sakura clearly in pain.

"What thing… Where is Hinata…? Why isn't she with you?" questioned an angry and worried blonde.

"It was ugly and black, we barely got away alive. Ino went to report to the Hokage and we came here to find you two. That thing told us that you were to meet him 10 miles outside the village if you wanted to see her alive."

"Kakashi-sensei, tell Tsunade that I'm going. Make sure those two get to the hospital," ordered Naruto as he shakily stood from the ground.

"No, Naruto, you are too weak to fight. You will not go, and that is an order."

"Too bad Kakashi-sensei, like you said before those who don't follow rules are trash, but those who leave their friends behind are less than that. Besides she means much more to me than just a friend. I love her, and I'll gladly die if she could live." Naruto throws his coat back on and turns away from the small group before looking back at Kakashi. "Oh and Kakashi-sensei, I have more energy left than you think." A cloud of dust picked up, and he was gone astonishing every one in the area.

"Kakashi-sensei when did he learn shushin? Asked Sakura with Tenten nodding in agreement.

"He didn't, that was pure speed… I don't know how he did it, but he's probably much faster than Lee" he answered while looking where his student once was.

"Please be ok Hinata… I never realized how much I could love you in this short amount of time, but the thought of loosing you has revealed it to me." Pushing more chakra to his legs, he tore through the forest destroying branches on contact. Reaching the general area he was told about in only a few minutes, he concentrated on his senses to find the whereabouts of the creature. Feeling a familiar presence, he rushed deeper into the forest to where he found the source. Tied to a tree, slightly worse for wear, was his girlfriend. Her eyes snapped open the moment she felt a powerful presence and was relieved to find a blonde man looking at her.

"Naruto-kun!" she screamed out until she came back to the realization of the situation. "Please, you must run. Leave me here, he is much too powerful." She cried out trying to get him to go.

"I'm sorry, I cannot run. If I run this creature could destroy the village. I will protect everyone, especially you." He shouted getting the attention of the creature from a distance. Sensing the approach, Naruto flung shuriken cutting the ropes holding Hinata to the tree just as the creature arrived.

"Ah, here is my opponent. I've been looking for you, but the last time I found you, you were too weak and I didn't know exactly what you held was the one I wanted. Now I see I must have missed something in your mind stopping me from sensing the fox." Came the almost demonic voice from the creature. Naruto inspected his opponent, and a strange one at that. It was nearly 8 ft tall and mostly looked like a man, but had a head like a bull (Minotaur) covered in dark skin sporting only dark cutoff shorts.

"Whoa hey ugly, who are you then?" asked a disgusted blonde shinobi as he motioned for Hinata to escape, which she refused.

"You can all me Entai, or if you prefer, your executioner," Naruto suddenly shivered unknowingly when he heard the name until a second voice went through his head.

"**Run kid. He was the reason I came to this dimension 3000 years ago. He is an ancient fox hunter. Now run" **said the Kyuubi. (please note that kitsunes are supposed to gain a tail for each 1000 years they live which would make him about a 6 tailed fox, so he wasn't ultimate yet)

'Bite me fox I won't run' he replied in his head only to get rants and swears from the demon.

"So Entai-chan, I hear you chase foxes, that explains coming after me, but why her?"

"You are stupid aren't you? You have wanted to pursue her for many years… I saw it when I read your memories a year ago, so don't try to trick me. I used her to get you out in the open." The beast informed him as he took out a double edged battle axe from who knows where. "No more talking now, your life ends today."

Naruto was barely able to side step the large blade in order to save his arm. Throwing his coat off, he fell into a battle stance and readied to fight the beast. Dodging another downward chop the blonde countered with a chakra powered kick to the Minotaur only to have it blocked effortlessly just by tilting his head to block the kick with his horn. Naruto limped away after his kick, feeling like he just kicked a pillar of steel and nearly broke his foot. Entai just laughed and threw a furry of swipes with his axe towards his opponent like he was just playing with him.

* * *

Back in Konoha the Hokage gathered a group of Anbu along with Kakashi and Jiraiya to send to the location of the battle. Tsunade gave them their mission objectives quickly and nearly pushed them out the door towards their destination. With Kakashi and Jiraiya in the lead they hurried themselves to the location of the heightened chakra signatures.

Naruto, now panting from over exertion, was still feeling the effects of his intense training and was quickly loosing ground in the fight. "You are fighting a loosing battle, you can never win," taunted Entai as he swung a powerful chop causing a shockwave to blast the blonde into a tree. Hinata cried out and was about to run to him when Entai blocked her path. "Maybe he'll fight a little longer if he were to see his woman die." Lifting his axe he was about to move for the kill on the frightened girl when he felt a strong wind pick up and looked toward his downed opponent only to see him standing with two clones forming a ball of chakra with razor edges swirling around the perimeter.

"You will leave her alone. I will not let you defeat me. I will protect my village." The two Naruto clones poofed out of existence while the real one held up his hand as the blades doubled in size "Take this bastard… Fuuton: Rasengan Shuriken" the intense attack came hurtling toward Entai when he turned and slashed with his axe "Demon Axe Shield" Entai called out connecting his axe to the orb and getting consumed in the following explosion. Naruto fell on his back trying to let his body rest from his premature victory (he thought he won, but the damage was only delt to the axe because of his defense).

The smoke cleared showing an enraged beast holding a now single edged axe. "You little shit. I haven't ever scratched my axe fighting demons, and you nearly destroy my weapon! I was going easy on you, now you will feel my wrath." Entai slashed with his axe trying to slice the blonde in two when he was met with a powerful defense coming from the small Hyuuga that was now standing between the two opponents holding her personally created technique under the heavy slash.

"I won't allow you to hurt my Naruto-kun; I will die before that happens."

"That was precisely what I was thinking." Grinned Entai evilly. "Demon Axe Slash!" the stopped axe was now glowing as a blast of chakra sliced though her defense cutting her diagonally as she was thrown through the air from the brutal attack. Naruto woke from his unconsciousness just to see the slash hit his girlfriend sending blood showering down on him as she landed next to where he lay. Naruto, forgetting his exhaustion, rushed to her and held her still body in his arms.

"Oh God no, Hinata! Please no, no, no, no. Be alive please," he pleaded hugging her lightly as to not hurt her. A small smile graced his face when he saw her eyes open looking into his.

"Na-Naruto-kun… I'm sorry I couldn't help more. Don't let my death be in vain, just live your life and protect the village you love." She said quietly while coughing up blood.

"No, Hinata, you can't die! The village means nothing to me without you in it. Please you can't leave me, we never got married, we never got to really know each other. Just live through this and we'll get married right away, I just can't loose you, I love you too much."

"Please, Naruto-kun I love you as well, but we both know I can't survive these wounds, they're way too deep. I would love nothing more that to marry you, but I'm going to die and we can't change that," coughs up more blood.

"NO! I can't accept that! You can't die, I won't allow it. Just say you'll marry me when we get through this," Hinata was slipping from consciousness until Naruto lightly slapped her cheek waking her up again. "Hinata, please answer me; Will you marry me?"

"Y-yes," coughing more blood and started choking on the thick fluid as it ran down her face, "I will Naru… to…" she fell limp in his arms as the massive wound stopped flowing blood signifying her heart stopped. Naruto cradled her lifeless body and rocked it back and forth all the while crying like he has never done before in his entire life. All the pain and suffering of the years from being ridiculed and injured from the villagers felt like a small paper cut to the pain he was enduring now. He never knew that this was the feeling he was trying to protect people from, the pain of loosing a truly precious person.

"Looks like your little bitch died, now what will you do?" taunted Entai followed by an evil chuckle. Naruto set the dead body on the ground gingerly as his body started to glow.

* * *

"Kakashi-san, Jiraiya-sama… Do you feel that chakra? It's sickeningly powerful; I'm getting nauseous just feeling it."

"Yes I feel it as well. That is the power of the Kyuubi, but it seems strange; like it is insanely more powerful than when we fought it before."

"You are right Kakashi it is more powerful than the Kyuubi, it is Naruto. We have to move quickly, he has never been this emotional before, you can almost feel his sadness and rage. He has displayed some power like this during training and I nearly died stopping him, but it felt like nothing compared to this. I have no idea how powerful he can get if we leave him alone… Everyone we go now, double time," ordered Jiraiya as he hurried to find his student.

"You dumb piece of shit! You killed my girlfriend, my fiancé. I will never forgive you!" Chakra burst outward from the enraged blonde and engulfed him in the intense red chakra from his inner demon "You know, someone once said to me that when you have something to protect, then you will become truly strong. From that day on I found people to protect, but I never grasped the true concept behind it; that is until now. It wasn't if you were willing to protect them by putting your life on the line, it was if you were willing to give up everything including your life to protect them. I never did that since I felt the will to live myself and it was holding me back. It was also partly due to the feeling that I might hurt others, but now I truly have nothing else to live for but to kill you so you can't kill anyone else." Naruto's red aura never formed into anything resembling a fox like he previously experienced, instead it was joined as his blue chakra surged out to join it. "You have killed my greatest love, and now you will never hurt any one again!"

The chakra surrounding Naruto condensed around him until it formed into crackling lightning bolts of red and blue chakra fighting and jumping across and throughout his body. The blonde shinobi looked at his body amazed at the power he could control freely as he felt ancient jutsus he unconsciously wanted flow into his mind. That was when he saw the best jutsu he could ever imagine at the time. "I see. I guess the Kyuubi wasn't completely hell bent on destroying everything like I thought."

* * *

...Later


	10. Chapter 10

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 10

Last Chapter Summary: With his training mostly done Naruto headed off to rescue Hinata from the beast that captured her. During his fight, Hinata sacrificed her life to save Naruto from harm which caused him to draw upon a power hidden within him.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" **'demonic' **– I don't do flashbacks

* * *

Naruto looked to Entai and then turned his back on him as he approached his lifeless love. "Please, don't be too late." He told himself as he pressed one hand to her forehead and the other to her chest. "Ancient Arts: Resistive Healing" he saw the jutsu activate and some of the wounds seemed to heal, but something else was still actively killing her. Turning Hinata's body on her side he slapped her squarely on the back, with a little added chakra, forcing out the blood in her throat and lungs. "Come on work please," he pleaded as he placed his hands on her again "Ancient Arts: Resistive Healing" he called out again. This time her chest jumped upwards taking in air as she started choking and coughing. Gently patting her on the back, her coughing spell ended as she was now steadily breathing in and out on her own. "Thank God," standing up he turned towards the Minotaur. Naruto felt his electricity like chakra flare around him as he approached his opponent. "You are going to die here. I don't know how long my body can hold this power, but it will surely be long enough to destroy you."

Even though the whole thing, from the death of Hinata till now, was merely a minute, Entai was irritated and got impatient and charged at the blonde with axe blazing. Naruto easily sidestepped the axe as it came crashing down to the ground. With out missing a beat, a swirling sphere crashed into what was left of the axe "Rasengan!" the battle axe shattered sending shards of the blade in every direction leaving only a smiling face and a pissed beast. "Let's see what you really got you freak… Kitsune Kikku" Entai easily saw the kick coming like Naruto planed. Like before the Minotaur cockily tilted his head to block the kick with his mighty horn, but this time around his horn was the weaker link as it shattered causing Entai to step back in pain.

"You don't stand a chance against me now" declared Naruto with confidence. 'shit this hurts using this power, it feels like I'm being torn apart' ignoring his pain he charged in to battle and began exchanging blows in taijutsu. Surprisingly the large beast was quite nimble as he dodged the hits with apparent ease until Entai backed up and charged an attack. "Dark Matter Blast" he called out. Opening his mouth wide Entai hurled the dark evil ball towards his enemy. "Ancient Arts: Space Division" the dark matter ball split in two around the blonde's defense sending the halves in different directions. They continued hurling attacks and counters at each other (didn't want to think up more attacks so you can use your imagination) until they both ended up thoroughly beaten and worn.

'Damn when they said Kyuubi's chakra was infinite, they weren't kidding. All those jutsus and I'm not in the slightest out of chakra, but it hurts worse than hell itself.' Naruto wasn't winded, but was slowing down due to just the pain. The two opponents sized each other up and simultaneously knew the fight had to end now with the final attack.

"You will die now kid, it has been a real interesting fight…" With his arms raised above his head, pointed towards the sky, Entai called forth his greatest attack "Darkness of the End!" A great ball of pure darkness started to form in his out stretched arms absorbing even the light itself.

"Oh hell," was Naruto's voiced reaction as he ran in front of Hinata's unconscious form to be sure his attack wouldn't hurt her. Holding his hand outwards a swirling ball formed as Naruto's face contorted in concentration 'I can't use bushins, they'll get torn apart trying to hold this chakra, so I must do this myself.' Sweat poured off his brow as he focused on his attack. Seeing the darkness ball finish its growth he knew it was nearing the end so he made the final push to finish his attack. "You're finished." Naruto announced barely finishing his attack just as Entai's was thrown. "Strength of all the Elements: Rasengan" Naruto pushed the ball of chakra completely through the darkness attack shredding it with little effort. Not even slowing down he thrust the ball directly into the chest cavity of Entai. The Rasengan kept its form as he let go and stepped away from his enemy.

"This is your end Entai-teme… enjoy hell… Boom!" covering Hinata with his body, not a moment too soon, the Rasengan lost stability and exploded shredding apart the entrails of the dark Minotaur. Naruto lifted himself off of Hinata and inspected her for injuries and heart rate. After verifying that she was as well as he could discern, he held her hand and molded chakra into a crystallized ring around her finger. He admired his work of the blue and red ring intermixing and shimmering into a light purple and back again. He lightly kissed her lips and stood up next to her. Still holding back screams of pain from the transformation he tried to shutdown the flow of chakra, but found it wasn't happening. The chakra kept coming and regenerating itself, there was no end.

A team of Anbu, along with Kakashi and Jiraiya, landed in the clearing and saw the mangled body of a Minotaur with a blonde ninja radiating insane amounts of chakra standing by an unconscious dark hired girl.

"Naruto? Are you ok?" asked Jiraiya fishing to see if he was still in control or if the demon got loose.

"Define ok. I'm still in control if that is what you mean." Naruto replied. When the white haired sannin heard this he sighed in relief.

"That is good to hear; you can stand down now."

"I can't" came the pained reply that just irritated Kakashi.

"Naruto, you have already disobeyed my order earlier, you will comply with this one or we are required to attack."

"Damn it Kakashi, Jiraiya; it isn't that I won't, it's I CAN'T!" Jiraiya was taken aback by the use of his actual name and stared at his student realizing this was serious.

"What do you mean?" asked Kakashi

"I can't stop it; when ever I try to stop the chakra flow it somehow diverts and keeps feeding my system anyways. I'm getting chakra overload and it's tearing me apart inside, the pain is unbearable. I need you guys to take care of Hinata, she has already died on me once, if she goes again I'll haunt you for eternity." Naruto turned to leave after his explanation.

"Wait where are you going?" asked Jiraiya

"I need to get somewhere safe. I have to release an infinite amount of chakra and I think it might hurt really bad… Hopefully I will return, but I can't guarantee it." An intense light flashed and he was gone.

"Can you believe his power… it is unbelievable," remarked one of the Anbu. Suddenly Tsunade appeared just as the horizon grew red. A loud rumbling was heard in the distance. The rumble grew louder and louder until it was almost deafening. An intense wind picked up as branches and leaves were torn from the trees. Jiraiya rushed forward and grabbed Hinata protecting her from the damaging debris that was whipping around them. The wind and rumbling finally died down and all the present ninja revived from the intense wind trying to get their bearings again.

"Jiraiya, get off that girl!" screamed Tsunade as she readied a punch for his perverted antics.

"Sorry… just… protecting… hurt… help" Jiraiya fell to the ground with branches and debris sticking out of his back from protecting his charge. Tsunade quickly ran to him and pulled out the intruding objects and healed his wounds. After he was mostly healed she moved to Hinata and healed what injuries she had as well.

"Alright someone talk. What is going on here?" ordered the blonde Hokage looking at each ninja for an answer.

"Naruto defeated the intruder but was unable to control his chakra without injury and had to release all of it to keep from being shredded; most likely that was the cause for that shockwave." Answered the silver haired Jonin

"That could be really bad then, but did he tell you anything about Hinata? She had internal bleeding but no injuries.

"Before Naruto left, he said she had died once and threatened Jiraiya's life if anything happened to her again." Tsunade felt a huge headache heading her way. Why did all her headaches pertain to the blonde genin?

"I see, let's go and see if he is still alive." Tsunade left one Anbu member with Hinata and took the rest with her, including Jiraiya since he was able to walk again. The group leapt up onto the closest tree for a vantage point so they could search for his location. What they found was something a mostly blind person could track. Trees were flattened in a five mile radius around the epicenter where there was only a crater with no sign of the blue eyed blonde.

"Kakashi, take the Anbu squad and continue the search for Naruto. I'll return with Hinata to Konoha, since she could use a stay in the hospital." Tsunade, with Jiraiya, took Hinata to the hospital and then proceeded to form a specialized team of trackers to find and locate their missing shinobi.

3 days later

* * *

The Konoha hospital was its usual quiet with the occasional voices drifting into the hallways from visitors. Although the hospital rooms normally had a lifeless and sterile feel to them, one was quite the contrary. This small room contained many flowers of all different varieties surrounding the area where the small frame of a girl was laying, still not yet awake from her ordeal. Her dark midnight blue hair cascaded down the hospital pillow accentuating her pale skin. Her eye lids just started to flutter as she opened them revealing her silvery lavender pupil-less eyes.

"Am I dead? Where am I?" she asked with a quiet shaky voice. She turned her head to see a group kunoichi come running to her bedside.

"Thank god Hinata… You're awake," Sakura stated with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how worried we were for you," commented Tenten. Ino, being her usual intruding self, decided to ask the question they all wanted to know.

"So, Hinata, where did you get that beautiful thing on your finger? It won't come off your hand and it's so unique."

"Huh?" Hinata looked at her hand and stared deeply into the weird object. The blue and red colors were actively fighting for dominance of the object as they swirled about occasionally turning light purple and then switching sides.

"Hinata… hey" snapping her out of her staring daze, Ino continued her talking. "We were mesmerized by it as well it just never stays the same. So where did you get it?"

"I don't know, I jumped in front of an axe slash to save Naruto-kun. Then he um…" Hinata blushed as she started to remember the conversation. "I said yes, but then I think I died." Hinata started to break down a bit remembering her senses as her life faded. "There was so much blood, it was coming from every where, and everything was red… The last think I could remember was the feeling of drowning in my own blood… it was horrible… how am I even alive? Where's Naruto-kun?" Hinata was now hysterically crying and thrashing about trying to find her love, while the three kunoichi restrained her and tried to calm her. Sakura and Ino were holding her to the bed while Tenten was trying her best to soothe her enough so she would calm down.

"Just calm down Hinata, you can't get answers while you're thrashing around like that just calm down." Hinata finally gave in and went limp in the bed no longer trying to resist. "That's good. Now what did you say yes to? You were blushing but never told us."

"Well um… I think this ring is an engagement ring… that is what I said yes to; but how am I alive… and where's Naruto?" the kunoichis were too caught up dreading the last two questions to squeal in delight for the first part.

"We don't have the answers to either of those, you were mostly healed by the time Tsunade-sama got to you, and we haven't found Naruto yet after killing that beast and that huge explosion." Explained the pink haired kunoichi

"What explosion?" Hinata asked with concern all over her face.

"An explosion caused by Naruto trying to release enough chakra to keep his body from shredding under the stress." Everyone turned to where the voice came from to see the busty Hokage walking towards them. "Naruto had way too much chakra coursing through him and he couldn't stop it, it just kept growing. He ran to a safe distance to release the chakra away from people hopefully restoring the chakra balance. The release left almost 80 square miles of destroyed trees and a massive crater where he was supposed to be standing when it happened." Tsunade came to the bedside and held Hinata's hand as tears formed in the usually collected eyes of the Hokage. "I'm sorry Hinata; we've searched for three days now and have found no trace of him. I have listed him as an unconfirmed death. I was just trying to be optimistic, but even I can't deny that he most likely gone." Hinata was crying, the others joined her as well just from seeing the grief on the Hyuuga's face.

"Tsunade-sama," Ino voiced, "how powerful was he?"

"From what I saw there was probably no limit to his power… when I last saw him, or more accurately felt his chakra, the chakra he was radiating was probably twice that of what this entire village could generate with all of the ninjas collectively. The worst was the chakra he released in the explosion was greater than we felt while fighting the Kyuubi. That is why we don't think he survived."

"You're wrong," simply stated the sniffling patient. "What happens to anything formed of chakra when the creator dies?"

"That's easy Hinata," piped up Sakura in her know it all voice, "anything created of chakra disappears when the person that created it dies."

"Exactly, that is why he is still alive… my ring is made of his chakra, I can feel it. I think that is why he gave me this ring, so I could have peace of mind that he was still alive, especially for if he had to leave on a mission."

"But there are two colors in the ring, no one has two chakras," Ino commented with Tenten agreeing.

"Wrong," the other three females said together with Tsunade continuing "Naruto has two chakra sources; how, I can't tell you, but just accept it. Hinata, as long as that ring exists, I'll continue sending search parties to look for him, but don't expect the council to approve it. I can only get by with nothing more than a few ninja assigned to it, so the council doesn't have to approve. "

"Thank you Tsunade-sama," replied Hinata with a genuine smile. Tsunade returned the smile and then left the room leaving the tired Hyuuga to fall backwards onto the bed and fall asleep immediately. 'Please come home soon Naruto, you surely are loved here,' thought Tsunade and she disappeared into the halls of the Hospital.

* * *

...Later


	11. Chapter 11

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 11

Last Chapter Summary: Hinata is recovering in the hospital after Naruto brought her back and defeated the beast, but he disappeared in the process of trying to stop the immense chakra flow from tearing him apart. Age: was still 18 at the end of chapter 9&10.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" – I don't do flashbacks

* * *

A little over one year has passed since that day where Entai fell to the might of the strongest ninja of Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto. Since that day their hero, or that is what most ninjas thought of him now, hasn't returned nor has any trace been found of him even existing. For only being back for less than a week, the blonde sure had managed to liven things up. He managed to secure the love of the highly sought after Hyuuga where others had tried for years, he created a jutsu stronger than any other that has been created, and also managed to defeat an enemy skilled beyond Kage level. Although for most of the village it seemed like the blonde shinobi never returned, since most haven't seen him in the whole of the 5 years he was gone, but he never left the mind or the heart of a certain dark haired 19 year old.

Hyuuga Hinata, a much feared ninja nicknamed the 'light of death' because of the eerie glow her enemies saw emanating from a single finger before their deaths. She did numerous dangerous missions but found little satisfaction from them. As such she has decided to retire from active duty of being a ninja to pursue teaching of the younger generation. She felt being at home and showing the students the finer part of being a ninja was much more rewarding than the life of a normal ninja, plus she would have a stable paycheck. Hinata was a very skilled kunoichi and was easily promoted to Jonin only half a year previously and was currently having the full force of persuasion, coming from the Hokage, to accept a genin team this year instead of helping at the academy.

"Hinata we need you to lead a group of genin this year due to the weird load out of this year's potentials." Explained Tsunade

"I don't really want to, but why are my services needed anyways. What is different about the current year's genin?"

"We need your expertise since there are very few Jonin women, let alone ones of your abilities. The reason we need kunoichi instructors is that there are a few teams that will be mostly female oriented. Usually we have 2 males and one female for each team, but this year things are changing, we will have one team of 2 female and 1 male as well as a single all female team. Since the only Jonin kunoichis we have to choose from right now are Kurenai and Anko, we need you since I don't want little Ankos running around Konoha. Will you teach a genin team Hinata?" Hinata was about to refuse when Tsunade upped the ante seeing he apprehension. "Do you really want to see your Hokage beg?" Hinata smiled and shook her head.

"Fine Tsunade-sama, I'll teach a group, what group will I be teaching?"

"You will be teaching the new team 8 which will be the one with the single male since Kurenai has proven herself with dealing with females and will be taking on the all girl team. The chuunin exams have changed as well; they are now allowing teams of 3 to add another providing they have medical background. Keep that in mind since we have many genin that have no teams and refuse to form a team with other single ninja so assimilating one in a formed group should be easy." Tsunade dismissed Hinata and returned to her usual paper work.

Hinata decided to go home for the day, but it was always the same. She would get almost mobbed by young men asking her out or proposing to her in an odd manner. The worst part for her wasn't the unwanted attention, but the depression that came after getting rid of them all; she wanted a husband soon, but there was only one person that would or could ever make her completely happy. Completely down on life again she walked up the stairs to her apartment and went in sitting down on the couch with a depressed sigh and looked at her pictures of the blonde displayed on her bookcase causing tears to form once again 'Forgive me my weakness, I just don't know why, without you it's hard to survive… Please I need you here by my side, Naruto-kun. It hurts to be without you' Hinata fell asleep on the couch with tears stains on her face covered in the old trench coat he left behind.

Hinata's dreams were her double edged swords. They gave her happiness but it wouldn't last as the morning would bring their end and shatter her fantasies. Last night was just like the rest; she was unhappy the daylight brought her away from the wonderful dream she was having. Cursing the sun she got up from the couch and went into the bathroom to get cleaned up seeing as she needed to make a good impression with her students she was getting today. After her usual morning routines, she walked out the door still wearing tight dark Capri pants and her standard light colored sleeveless shirt, now sporting a light colored kitsune with the emblem she designed nestled in the fur placed on the back. Not wanting the usual confrontation with the male population she made definite haste to the academy to retrieve her genin.

* * *

"Son of a bitch… that hurt like hell!" screamed a voice full of relief "Now that I've completed that, I've got to get back to Konoha." He declared before he took off to run only to fall flat on his face. "Ouch that takes smarts… less chakra, less ability. I guess I just need to walk. I guess I should see what else I can't do now." He performed, or tried to perform, his favorite jutsus only to find out they all nearly failed or performed inadequately. "Crap now I'm almost out of chakra, this sucks I guess I can just walk, man this is boring." On ward he trudged towards the village.

* * *

"Alright team 8 you are with me… We'll be going to the park to introduce ourselves."

"Yes, Hinata-sensei," the group chimed in unison. The group arrived at the park with two young kunoichi talking and the single male ogling his female teammates, especially his sensei. They all sat on the grass near a large tree overlooking the small lake.

"Alright we'll all introduce ourselves; I'll start for an example… My name is Hyuuga Hinata, my hobbies used to be pressing flowers and I used to like eating sweets like cinnamon buns, and I dislike those who unnecessarily put down others. You're up next… you" Hinata pointed towards the thin platinum blonde haired genin. Her straight hair was cut to about the shoulder being a great contrast to her dark brown eyes. She wore a simple blue sleeveless shirt with black shorts.

"Ok, my name is Piasano Altia, I enjoy watching swordsmanship and hope to prove a woman can wield a sword just as well as a man. My greatest dream is to be worthy of the use of a legendary sword."

"Very interesting goals, you probably wont get much practice with a sword until you reach chuunin and can learn under a sword master, but at least you have a goal to head for, just never give up on your goals. Ok you're up" Hinata pointed to the only male in the group who was wearing black jean shorts with a tight white t-shirt. He had that 'pretty boy' look with his dark hair and equally dark eyes.

"Well my name is Ushiro Itan, I like using ninjutsu and my goal in life is to do what no other man has managed in the village, to wed the most beautiful and powerful kunoichi in all of Konoha, even though she is older."

"Well that is… different. How do you even know this older woman is single?" Hinata asked.

"Well she has never been seen on a date with a single guy since she keeps turning down dates. I just hope she's into younger men."

"Just because she hasn't been seen dating doesn't mean she is single. Have you checked for subtle signs like rings or symbols of other families?" seeing him shake his head she continued. "Last but hopefully not least, your up" the dark blonde thought of what to say while pushing her short hair out of her dim blue eyes. She seemed content wearing long black pants and light green long sleeve shirt.

"My name is Anteru Riki, I like relaxing and watching the stars at night, and I wish to become a strong kunoichi and aid our next Hokage in more than one way"

"What do you mean by that Riki-san? Are you really suggesting what I think you are?"

"It has been known that the Hokages have extreme stresses in their profession. Since there aren't anymore extremely powerful women, I'm sure the next will be a man. I'm sure I can relieve those pressures."

"You are real forward with your sexuality aren't you Riki-san. What would you do if he was married?"

"Well, I guess she just couldn't find out about what happens behind the closed door."

"I would definitely want to deter you from that course of action. I would guarantee that the next Hokage will have a wife that is very possessive and wouldn't think twice before killing anyone trying to defile her husband."

"How would you know sensei? No one knows who the next Hokage will be."

"There is only one man that has the power to be the village's best, and his chakra is currently wrapped around my finger." Hinata waves her fingers showing off the unique ring causing two of her students to pale in color. "I suggest two of you find a new goal in life… We will meet tomorrow morning 9 am at training ground 11 for your final test" Hinata, having to bring up her memories again made a collected but quick retreat to her apartment to try and sleep the rest of the day away.

7am next day

* * *

The blonde Hokage was groggily going through her papers for the day when she was interrupted by a young man entering her office with barely genin level chakra.

"What do you want? It's too early to deal with you little brats," she spoke with out looking up from her work.

"I need a genin team to train with for a while until I get my self into shape again."

"Not going to happen, your chakra is too low, besides I'm not your personal trainer."

"Hey I know that, I would have asked ero-sennin, but I haven't got that kind of strength right now." Tsunade looked up and saw the best view she could ever imagine standing before her.

"Naruto… what the hell happened? You've been gone for a year."

"Ah shit a year! It wasn't supposed to take that long. I went to a kind of different dimension to seal away my extra power, so I guess the times I passed out from the pain lasted much longer than I thought." 'I think Hinata-chan might kill me now.' "I don't have much information on any of it so I can't tell you, so don't bother asking. Anyways, can you let me train with a genin team, or do I have to train alone again?"

"That must really suck to have all that power but are forced to not use any of it. I'll tell you what, I'll put you on a team that I guarantee you'll get along with. Maybe you can help with their training as well as yours."

"That's great, where do I meet them?"

"They will be doing the final test at 9am at training ground 11. I'll let the Jonin know you're joining them afterwards. But you must control yourself you must remain professional." After a little more Q and A from Tsunade she let him go to find his team since they did talk for a long while. 'I wonder how she sends these messages without actually writing them' he thought as he ran as best he could to training ground 11.

"Congratulations, you all pass," the group cheered, "Now I was just contacted by the Hokage that we will be adding another genin to our ranks. She has assured me that he is an experienced fighter." Hinata felt a weird chakra of about genin level approach. "Welcome to team 8 I'll be your instructor, now sit with the rest of the group."

"Awfully old to be a genin aren't you?" asked Itan

"Yeah Hinata-sensei, he doesn't seem that good to me, maybe a bit hot, but not strong at all." Commented Altia

"Well, I say he should join us just from his looks alone." Remarked Riki licking her lips.

"Please pay no attention to them, I bet you're a fine shinobi, come and introduce yourself." Hinata still trying to be in control of the situation still hasn't turned to the newcomer.

"Sure thing Hinata-sensei, but promise you'll keep your hands off me until we're done for the day" Hinata immediately recognized the voice and wanted to attack but the Hokage's warning was now making sense to her so she had to control it, but she couldn't hide the blush or her smile which everyone caught while the newcomer situated himself.

"Hey, Hinata-sensei, you like the new guy don't you," Riki teased "What will your boyfriend think huh?"

"Yeah, sensei what will he think?" asked the new blonde

"I think he knows there is only one person I could love, so it shouldn't be a problem. Now go ahead and introduce yourself."

"Fine, you can call me Naruto. I like training and ramen, but I love my girlfriend and she even agreed to marry me. I dislike people who under estimate me, especially inexperienced genin who has yet to feel real strength."

"Real strength huh? I can beat you down with your low level of chakra" bragged Itan causing Hinata to cringe at the remark.

"Right now with a chakra vs. chakra match, I would lose to you since using any real chakra will kill me, but I could beat you down without touching my chakra, but unfortunately I haven't gotten that down perfectly either so you're right as well. I'm here to help you learn as well as help myself get stronger so my chakra system can heal and hold my true power."

"True power my ass, you don't know anything about strength do you?" Itan taunted until Hinata spoke up.

"Itan-san, do you remember the lesson on the Minotaur that was defeated about a year ago?"

"Sure, we all heard that one, you were involved weren't you sensei?"

"Yes I was, and I even died that day after I agreed to marry my life long love. Some how I was brought back to life and was left with this ring that can't be removed. My love disappeared shortly after defeating the Minotaur."

"Damn, your boyfriend was strong. It was said that the Minotaur was more powerful than the Hokage."

"Not was, is. I don't exactly know what happened to his strength, but I can tell he still has it locked away." Hinata looked to Naruto to see his reaction to her assumption but all she saw was a dead looking face.

"His name was Entai, that blasted minotaur killed my girlfriend and caused me to use power I wasn't meant to have yet and it nearly destroyed me until I spent the last year in a different dimension, where chakra can't move, sealing it away. On a positive note, I see my ring turned out better than I thought it would, wouldn't you say so Hinata-chan." The genin stared at the new blonde. 'you should give your teacher respect and not be so familiar with them.' they all thought

"Yes, I think it turned out quite well Naruto-kun. I'll ask how you brought me back to life later." The fresh genin nearly choked to death after hearing that this guy was the actually the one they heard of as the previous conversation now made sense.

"But you, but how. You have less chakra than we do." Commented Altia

"I locked away all but five percent of _my_ chakra since that is all I can safely hold without dieing. By doing so I've also messed up my balance and stamina so that is why I thought it would be beneficial to all of us if I were to train with genin again. I have many skills and knowledge to share, but to get to those abilities I need more of my chakra. So here is what I'm offering, you train with me and I'll train you in almost anything when I gain the ability to do so."

"Oh cool. When do we start Naruto-sensei." Shouted Itan. Naruto felt awkward now especially because his girlfriend was pissed. If he wanted to survive, he'd have to fix this soon.

"Whoa hold on there kid, until a specified time Hinata is _our_ sensei. What she says goes. When we are acting as a team, I am not her boyfriend I am her student, so all training will be up to her." Hinata's anger was replaced by a kind smile.

"Thank you Naruto-san. When you feel you're strong enough, I'll let you teach your techniques to them. Alright tomorrow we do some early training and go on our first mission. You are dismissed." Not even seconds past before Hinata was on top of Naruto kissing him with all her bottled up feelings.

"Easy there sensei, I think your suffocating him. You should let him up so I can try," Riki stated while moistening her lips. That was probably something she shouldn't have said and she found out the hard way. Without even being able to figure out how it happened, she had all her limbs tied up and was hanging from a tree 20 feet from where her sensei was still making out with her boyfriend. 'Note to self, never try to get sensei's boyfriend.' Seeing the harsh display, the other genins cut their teammate down and left the scene in a hurry.

The couple finally parted both deeply breathing in air to replenish the oxygen lost while kissing. They both stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like hours until she removed herself from restraining him and allowed him to stand again. "I'm glad there weren't any complications with the ancient jutsu I used on you." Hinata gave him a weird smile; to him it was at least.

"There was one complication with it though," she told him making his smile fade into a saddened frown. "The problem is that now I want you… bad. I won't stop until I have all of you." Naruto had a scared look on his face from Hinata's predatory grin, but deep down it excited him to no end.

"Well, I guess it could be worse, but before you attack me again, could you take a look at my chakra system, it feels really messed up," Hinata was disappointed in his reaction, but he didn't refuse her advances per se, so that was good.

* * *

...Later


	12. Chapter 12

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 12

Last Chapter Summary: Hinata has a group of genin now that she is a Jonin, but her life got very exciting again as she found a fourth teammate to join in. Naruto has returned once again and asked Hinata to check out his chakra system because it felt 'really messed up'. Age by last chapter – 19.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" – I don't do flashbacks

* * *

(slight recap)

"There was one complication with it though," she told him making his smile fade into a saddened frown. "The problem is that now I want you… bad. I won't stop until I have all of you." Naruto had a scared look on his face from Hinata's predatory grin, but deep down it excited him to no end.

"Well, I guess it could be worse, but before you attack me again, could you take a look at my chakra system, it feels really messed up," Hinata was disappointed in his reaction, but he didn't refuse her advances per se, so that was good.

* * *

"Sure… Byakugan." Her eyes turned glassy white as veins protruded from her flawless skin. Naruto lightly stroked the veins on her face causing her to giggle again. "Stop, you know that tickles." He just chuckled and took his hand away from her face. She concentrated on seeing his chakra system and immediately stared in shock at what she saw. Tears started streaming down her face as she looked at the mangled mess of his chakra system. Many of the chakra arteries were torn while others were running in the wrong direction clearly not where they belonged either. Hinata blinked her eyes and refocused to make sure she wasn't seeing anything and to her shock again she wasn't. It was quite amazing to her to see two doors for each chakra gate, one real; the other had a kanji glowing on it making it clearly artificial.

(My 2 cents: alright, it hit me when I reread this chapter that his state seemed similar to how he was written in a chapter from the COLAD series, but in that story his chakra arteries were just expanded and cracked where as my story has them all F'ed up, so no, he can't heal himself like that story)

"How bad is it Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked after seeing her sad and frightened face.

"It's bad Naruto-kun, real bad. You shouldn't be alive with this damage. And why do you have more chakra gates?"

"Hmm, more gates? I guess that explain what that jutsu did. After Entai killed you, I forcefully pulled all the chakra from Kyuubi effectively destroying him in the process. Just like the eight gates, this increased my power exponentially. I knew that by absorbing his chakra that I was sure to die, but it didn't matter as long as I killed him. That and the fact that I was feeling slightly suicidal after loosing someone I knew I wanted to marry." Hinata, still crying, managed a small pained smile at the last part.

"Once I absorbed the chakra, I found memories of jutsus so old that they have either been lost, or never seen outside of demonic presence; one of those techniques is what brought you back. After defeating Entai, I couldn't stop the massive amounts of chakra that was tearing me apart, so I ran off to try and release enough chakra to stop it. Unfortunately it didn't work and I had to try another ancient jutsu which apparently created secondary doors on the chakra gates to hold back the extra power which apparently took me a year or so to complete in a different dimension." Hinata was still crying from the pain he went though and couldn't imagine living a whole year in constant pain. Naruto hugged the crying form to him and gently rubbed her back to calm her.

"Naruto-kun," she sniffled, "You can't repair the damage done to your chakra system by yourself. Even with your healing abilities, it won't be enough. You will be stuck with your current chakra level and abilities making it impossible for you to continue as a ninja." Naruto was clearly at a complete loss, he could never be Hokage and he would have to give up being a shinobi. It was just too much to take in. "You could always take up teaching at the academy since you really don't need chakra for that, but knowing you, you would rather kill yourself trying to train beyond your limit to triumph over the problem." Hinata hit the nail on the head with that one. That was precisely the idea he was currently running through his head.

"I know if I told you to give up being a ninja and live out your life with me, you would consider it, but I can't ask you to give up so easily. I think I know a way to help align your chakra system so they can heal themselves." Naruto's downcast attitude picked up a bit but didn't rise too high because of her sullen attitude.

"Hinata-chan, what will you have to do?" he asked knowing that only one topic could bring her attitude to that level.

"I would have to face my family again and most likely fight to grant you access to the specialized Hyuuga medics. Since we fight with Jyuken, we can seriously mess up the chakra system, and they are the only ones skilled enough to do it. The worst case scenario is I would be branded with the seal and most likely die."

"I guess that settles it then, I'll quit being a ninja."

"No you can't! Even if I do die it will be worth it to grant you your greatest wish."

"No, Hinata-chan, you won't die for something like that. My greatest wish is to grow old with you and have a family. Being Hokage is only second on my list after I truly met you. Right now we are both alive and we can be happy just as we are." Naruto stood up signifying the end of the conversation and pulled Hinata up with him. "Damn, I'm tired. Come on Hinata-chan let's…" Naruto never finished his sentence before he fell to the ground face first.

"Naruto-kun!" she screamed as she ran to his side. He was sweating profusely drenching his clothing. Hinata tried to carry him but found that he was strangely much heavier than he should have been and couldn't. Hinata was panicking as her boyfriend shivered on the ground but had to do something. Using shushin (she is a jonin and they seem to all know that technique)Hinata moved quickly back to civilization to find some help.

* * *

Naruto found himself breathing in the sterile air of his most hated room at the Konoha hospital. The bright lights assaulted his eyes as he attempted to open them. Trying to shield his eyes with his hand, he found the movement hindered stoping him from moving. Looking over for the cause of his hindrance, he found a small body joining him in his hospital bed. He could feel her breath on his neck as she peacefully slept on his shoulder. Awkwardly the blonde kissed his bed partner waking her from her slumber.

Seeing his blue eyes gazing at her she firmly held his head in her hands and warmly molded her lips to his relishing in the feeling of the kiss. The sweet kiss continued until Naruto felt something warm drip onto his face. He pushed the physically protesting girl away from his lips to look into her watering eyes.

"I don't want this Naruto-kun; I've gotten too close to you to be able to live without you."

"What are you talking about Hinata-chan?" Her heavy crying was impeding her speech when she tried to explaining his dilemma.

"Your chakra system is too messed up… you're dying Naruto-kun." Hinata fell into his arms bawling with Naruto trying to comfort her as tears fell from his own face wetting her shoulder. After a couple minutes of silent crying, Naruto managed to compose himself enough to speak.

"I take it that I don't have that long to live then if passing out on you is any indication." Hinata faintly nods in agreement, "then do you still want to get married?"

"Even if it was for a day, I'd want to be married to you, unfortunately though you won't even be able to leave behind a child to be with me since your injuries have made you sterile as well." She managed to say between sobs.

"I'm sorry we both wanted a family, but we can't change that now can we?" Naruto felt slightly happier as he saw he nod in agreement. "Good, it's only 6pm right now, get baa-chan and our friends here. I feel fine right now, so why waste time… We get married tonight." Hinata dumbly looks at his face for any signs of a joke, but when she sees none, all of what he said sunk in. She planted a deep and passionate kiss on him and tried to run out the door at the same time. Eventually running out the door took precedence as she broke the kiss and ran out the door only to run straight into someone and stumbled backwards.

"Sorry, I'm in a hurry," she blurted out without seeing who it was and tried to get moving again just to find her path blocked again. This time she looked at the person standing there and found none other than the Hokage standing in front of her. "Um, sorry Tsunade-sama, I was just going to find you."

"Hinata, go back and keep Naruto company, you know how he hates hospitals."

"Yeah, but I've got to…" she was cut off by Tsunade.

"No, your only job is to make sure the idiot doesn't do anything stupid. Now go." Hinata hung her head in defeat.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"Oh and Hinata, make sure you and the brat get to the hospital's conference room in an hour. I hear there's a wedding there tonight." Tsunade said with a bright smile.

"But how did…"

"I'm the Hokage; it's my job to know." Tsunade walked out of sight leaving a stunned and smiling girl in the hallway. Hinata finally came around and ran back to tell Naruto the news.

* * *

An hour later there was a large group of ninja gathered in the hospital's conference room all mumbling to each other about what this meeting could be about and why they needed to be in such a large room. As you would expect, everyone was intendance; Iruka, Kurenai, Asuma (I think he kicks ass so he doesn't die in my stories), Kakashi, Gai, Jiraiya, plus all their teams, including Neji. All of their talking and guessing as to why they are here was silenced when Tsunade entered the room.

"Hey Tsunade-sama, where is Hinata-chan?" questioned the feral looking guy standing next to his giant dog.

"She is part of the reason why we are here," after hearing this, some were scared what the news was and how Hinata was involved. "I have some good news, and some bad news, but then I have some even better news." Now the group was really confused, especially if you were to look at their faces. "The good news is we managed to find Naruto, or more accurately he found me," after the happy chatter calmed down she continued. "But the bad news is that since he used too much chakra at one time his chakra system is destroyed and he is dying. We don't know how much longer he will live. It could be a few days or a few years, it just depends on how well his body holds out." Everyone was in a silent depression; they were facing loosing one of their friends and a great ninja for a third time. "Because of that chance there has been a decision; Naruto and Hinata will be getting married tonight."

"What!?" came the chorus of ninja.

"It was their decision, and if you ask me, it's about time Hinata got what she wanted."

* * *

The wedding wasn't what you would call a fairy tale wedding, but for the couple, it was perfect. They were happy and all their friends were in attendance and that was what truly mattered to them. The unfortunate part of having all their friends there was that sooner or later her family was going to find out, and even though she was officially kicked out of the Hyuuga house, she was still Hyuuga and as such the clan may see it unfit to wed someone of low standings such as Naruto, an orphan. As such, they may attempt assassinations on the couple and most likely their children. These thoughts didn't linger very long before Hinata drug her husband from the 'quasi reception' back to their apartment.

Naruto was still not very energetic, and because of that, Hinata didn't want him to exert himself and end up dying earlier, so she took full control of the situation. Since he no longer had any reservations about what they were about to do, Naruto let his new wife do whatever she wanted. Lucky for him she wanted to do a lot. Before the night was done she had her way with him at least four times, but she lost count after the first one.

They were now soundly sleeping when dreams of his year in the other dimension entered his head. This dimension was strange in the fact that chakra didn't quite exist in the same way as it does in the usual dimension. It wasn't needed to live off of but could still be manipulated and used like normal. Naruto instantly woke from his dream and sat upright in a hurry, waking his beautiful bride sleeping next to him in the process.

"Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" she asked while still half asleep.

"I just got a brilliant idea Hinata-chan. In the morning I want you to go and collect as much information as you can about healing the chakra system, get Neji's help if you need to smuggle something out of the Hyuuga Manor. I'll have to track down some things on my own. If my plan works, I can be healed and we can enjoy a long life together but I'll still have to work out all the details before I can tell you and get your hopes up."

"That's great Naruto-kun; tell me again in the morning." Clearly Hinata wasn't paying that much attention to what was being said, but who could blame her she has only been asleep for about an hour after all her strenuous activities. Naruto laid back down and Hinata nestled her smooth, still naked body into his and let the joys of sleep claim them once more.

* * *

The next morning Hinata woke with a start. She fully remembered her night with her new husband, but that only brought a huge smile to her face. What hit her that morning was a vague conversation in the middle of the night about healing chakra systems. She immediately started to shake her husband to wake him.

"Wake up Naruto-kun!" she shouted at him still shaking his body.

"Yeah, I'm awake, Hinata-chan, don't yell so loud" he said gesturing to his ears

"Sorry, but was what you said last night true?"

"Um," he scratched his head trying to remember, "Oh yeah now I remember… yeah I think it should work. Do you remember what I told you to get?"

"Yes, but why do I need to get those things?" she asked.

"That's easy, you're going to be the one to heal me, and we just need the stuff to teach you how"

"What? But how?"

"That I still have to work out completely, but you'll be the first to know when I do." They both got out of bed and gazed at each other's naked forms and ended up in bed again for another round of... um… activities.

* * *

...Later


	13. Chapter 13

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 13

Last Chapter Summary: Whoa, Naruto got married already? Maybe that was because he is now dying from all that chakra messing him up, but will his unknown plan even work? And what is his plan?

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" – I don't do flashbacks

* * *

It has been nearly a week since Naruto and Hinata got married. Since then his condition has worsened rapidly. In a physical sense he was perfectly healthy, but his chakra wasn't going to the right areas of his body in the correct proportion to keep him going. As such, he has been bed ridden for the past 2 days, since he has found it nearly impossible to move. Naruto decided to call in his friends once more for his final farewells knowing he will be leaving this world within the day. Finally the last of his summoned guests has arrived for his meeting.

"It's about damn time you got here Kakashi-sensei." Naruto grumbled with as much energy as he could.

"Well I was lost on…," he was quickly punched by Tsunade shutting up his lame excuse.

"Thanks baa-chan; now, how has Hinata-chan been doing on her medical training?"

"She has been doing exceptionally well. She has progressed nearly 5 times faster than Sakura did, but I guess she has a reason pushing her." Seeing he wanted a better assessment she continued. "I believe she would be good enough to do most healing procedures, maybe even more complex ones if she just had the time to study more scrolls. She has enough knowledge that she could teach herself anything if she was forced to."

"Thank you baa-chan, that's what I needed to hear. Hey Kakashi, you awake yet?" dusting himself off the silver haired Jonin stepped into his view. "Kakashi-sensei, how many chakra gates can you open?"

"I don't see what that has to do about anything, but about 4 if I'm suicidal, 3 if I'm not." Naruto nods his head confirming he heard him.

"Now then, Sakura-chan…" the pink haired medic nin stepped up to the bedside where Kakashi was and looked at her worn out teammate with tears in her eyes. "Sakura-chan, it will be up to you to get Sasuke back, I could have easily done it if I was well, but now it will have to fall to you; this will be my first broken promise, I'm sorry." Sakura was in a full out crying fit as she lightly hugged her blonde teammate.

"Don't think about it Naruto, it was selfish of me to ask since I knew you would promise me. I know you once had the power to retrieve him, but by using it too soon you saved the lives of many villagers, to me that was greater than your promise, consider it even." Sakura stayed crying in his arms for a while until he saw how nervous Neji was getting and got her to release him.

"Neji, did you get what I asked for?"

"Yes, but I don't see what good it is going to do you, the scroll requires training for at least a year to do any techniques, and five to be a master at it like you would need. You clearly don't have that much time."

"You're right I don't have that time, but it will be useful for Hinata to learn." Neji reluctantly handed the scroll over to Hinata.

"You know, the elders will find it missing in about half of a day and be out searching for it. They won't hesitate to kill anyone in possession of it." he stated after handing over the scroll.

"I'm aware of that, when they ask, tell them I took it and hid it away from Hyuuga eyes for them being so arrogant. They will believe that story since I did steal the forbidden scroll from a Hokage." Naruto weakly sat up while everyone attempted to stop him but he motioned for them to stop. "Hinata-chan, you have everything?"

"Yes I've got everything we need." The group was interested now, seeing as how almost all had eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Good, I want to go to the training ground where I became genin, but I need someone to carry me." Naruto was definitely surprised at who was the first one to step forward. "You can really surprise me sometimes Ero-sennin."

"Quiet brat, for some reason I got attached to having you around." Jiraiya picked up Naruto in his arms as Kakashi led the whole group out to the training area. Naruto was set down leaning upright against the center post.

"This is my favorite training area. This was where Kakashi-sensei graduated his first team of genin, but it was also the first time I really got to talk to my new wife. I will miss all of this, including everyone that has acknowledged me as a person, and not for the demon I hold. (Everyone heard about the demon after the battle with Entai) I want to thank all of you for that." Naruto wiped some tears from his eyes, as did some others in the group. "I suppose it is now time to leave you all, I've enjoyed every moment I had with you. I guess this is good bye then." Everyone in the crowd who showed emotions were crying, and those who didn't, only had shadows of tears running from their eyes.

"We don't want you to die yet!" Screamed Sakura with most of the group nodding in agreement. With Hinata's help Naruto stood with her arm around his waist holding him upright. He faced the group and smile mischievously.

"Who said anything about dying? I still have to be alive to become Hokage." Naruto flashed a genuinely huge smile at them before singling out Kakashi. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, reveal your sharingan, I have something to show you." Not knowing what was going on he complied revealing the red and black eye. Naruto started moving his hands at a quick and steady rate and finally ended after 30 different signs were made. "That is called 'Ancient Arts: Inter-dimensional Travel: Safeguard' the seals change slightly every few minutes, so only a person with full knowledge of how time passes in this world can calculate when that particular set can be used."

"So, when can this one be used? How much chakra will it take?" Kakashi asked

"You can use it in about 1.5 minutes, and it will need all your chakra, and I mean all you can give without dying but you need to cut it as close as you can. It will also require using as many gates open as you can handle since you need to push it all out in one large surge, but Baa-chan is here, so don't worry too much."

"Naruto what are you planning?" Asked a stumped Shikamaru, but clearly saw the gears at work in the blonde's head.

"I suppose you could call it an extended honeymoon. We won't be able to return unless I am fully healed since it will take twice as much chakra to get out when someone else opens the portal." The crowd looked awestruck, they should have known giving up wasn't in Naruto's vocabulary, but they never expected him to try and cheat inevitable death in such a crazy way, but then again it fits his personality. "Kakashi, you will need to start opening gates almost immediately the time window will be here in 15 seconds." Kakashi's eyes opened wide before closing them in complete concentration. A huge surge of chakra was felt as Kakashi's face turned red as veins protruded from his face showing he was at 4 gates open. "Start the jutsu in 3... 2… 1… NOW!"

Kakashi flew though the hand signs with perfect precision and stopped on the last one, "Ancient Arts: Inter-dimensional Travel: Safeguard." A bright light burst into the area intensifying as everyone shielded their eyes from the light. The glare started to die down and everyone could see a doorway of pure light as Kakashi dropped from exhaustion.

"There isn't much time, Hinata, start your final farewells. We have maybe a minute or two." Naruto held himself up by holding on to the post next to him so his wife could say goodbye while he said his. "Iruka-sensei, of everyone here, you are the only person that I could consider a father. I want to thank you for being the father figure I needed. Jiraiya, the perverted uncle I never wanted, you have taught me more than I wanted, but thank you anyways." Hinata returned quickly after hugs all around, and helped Naruto walk towards the door way where Kakashi was now awake after Tsunade helped him recover some chakra. "Kakashi-sensei, take care of the village and the rest of the team, make sure you free Sasuke from the snake bastard." Naruto stopped and faced the rest of his friends and senseis. "I will miss you all my friends, take care of Konoha and help it flourish." Naruto turned towards the dimensional door way but was brought into a firm hug from the Hokage.

"Don't die Naruto, and take good care of your wife. If you die in there she will be completely alone and stuck there, so don't do anything too stupid." She was succeeding in holding her tears back for the moment to stay strong as was expected of the Hokage.

"Don't worry; I'll do everything to make her happy. Goodbye… okaasan, you are the closest thing I have to a mother." Tsunade had no hope of holding back her tears now. Her tears flowed freely down her face as it wetted the blonde's shirt. "I have to go Tsunade, be careful and keep that pervert away from the ladies." Reluctantly the Hokage let go of him with a pained smile. As he approached the gateway he raised his hand in a wave and turned showing off a huge smile to cheer everyone up and stepped through the light and heard something about youth prevailing or something, before the light disappeared leaving nothing but air where the married couple once was.

"So do you think he'll be able to live?" Kiba asked as a general question and Neji was the first to answer.

"Kiba, you're an idiot. If anyone can come through this, it's him. He has already done the impossible, he defeated me, and it was because of him that Hinata has become the powerful woman she is. I believe she may be the strongest Hyuuga the village has ever produced all thanks to his strange behavior. I'm leaving, it's getting a little boring here and I think something is in my eye." Neji left the group with the rest following suit each going their own way.

"I want to believe he will be fine Jiraiya, but what he did is just so… out there." Tsunade voiced quietly.

"I know what you mean Tsunade-hime, but you know better than I not to bet against him, he tends to do the impossible."

"That he does Jiraiya, let's just hope he continues down that path."

* * *

...Later


	14. Chapter 14

Walking the Line Between Life and Death

Chapter 14

Last Chapter Summary: Oh, this should be the last chapter. Naruto and Hinata just disappeared into a different dimension as an 'all or nothing' approach to his health.

I don't own Naruto or anything that could possibly make me any money.

'thoughts' "speaking" – I don't do flashbacks

* * *

The past 10 years has been kind to Konoha. Over eight years has passed since the last Uchiha was liberated from the clutches of the snake sannin and with a combined effort of Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Sakura they were able to defeat Orochimaru and with his death the curse seal was lifted taking all the evil it fed on with it leaving a relatively normal person where the evil once dwelled (after some counciling and a few punches to the head by Sakura). After he became a normal guy he was very accepting of feelings still harbored by Sakura and even pushed his want for revenge back in his mind. After their marriage, 2 years later, they wasted no time in trying to single handedly revive the Uchiha clan; that was obvious by the 4 boys and one girl they had running around the house now.

The others in Konoha went the way most thought they would. Neji showed he definitely was human and finally noticed the feelings his teammate held for him. (No, not Lee) Shikamaru found it less troublesome to fall for Ino than to put forth effort to get to know anyone else. Choji found his dream girl in the daughter of the Barbeque Shop owner, while Kiba found someone from a wolf clan from Iwa. Lee was still married to his training and Shino met with his betrothed as was expected from each.

Since the mysterious disappearance of the Kyuubi's vessel the Akatsuki was mostly disbanded with only a few surviving after their hideout, placed in an old volcano, exploded violently. (Itachi and a few minor followers survived) Konoha has had no real wars and as such they have flourished in the time of peace. Their ninjas have become unrivaled in their strength as many exceptional ninjas have come out to the light in past years including an unusual female sword master who got her start from a strange scroll that appeared on her doorstep early in her genin career.

Tsunade decided that she would need to step down as Hokage since her health has started to decline even though she still didn't look a day over thirty. The Hokage was currently looking through her roster of top level ninja trying to find her heir but found there to be no real candidate popping out at her to fit the bill. Sure she had a few almost Kage level ninja, but they were lacking in other areas that could cause their downfall. Completely exasperated she just gave up and called a village meeting with everyone gathering around the tower. The crowd finally quieted down as they saw their Hokage come to address the village.

"Citizens of Konoha, I've decided to step down as Hokage, and as such I need to announce my heir. Due to the amount of exceptional ninja I'll be holding a tournament to aid in my decision. All those who believe they are worthy of the Hokage title meet at the arena tomorrow. I will be screening all participants to make sure only those at a high enough level will be allowed in. I'll see you all there." Tsunade's age was definitely getting to her, as she drug her self to her room turning in for sleep much too early for a normal person.

The next day the whole town was buzzing with anticipation. Since the tournament needed to start early most of the village was already at the arena while some of the ninjas participating were just now getting ready for their battle.

* * *

"Come on Awai-chan, we need to get going were going to be late."

"Sorry daddy, where's mommy?"

"She's waiting for us outside. You want to walk or be carried?"

"I like walking today daddy"

"Alright, shall we go then?" The small child, of about 5, grabs her father's strong calloused hand and leads him out of the small house to his waiting wife. "Ready beautiful?"

"Ready when you are."

* * *

"Attention all combatants, come to the center of the arena for final check in." Announced a voice over the arena loud speaker. There was a small but decent group that filtered down to the arena as they were being checked for acceptance into the tournament.

"Inuzuka Kiba, proceed…Uchiha Sasuke, go ahead… Piasano Altia, you're good to go… Ushiro Itan, ok… Asuka Hishen, why not… Rock Lee, uh, go on (tries to hide from the spandex)… Keisen Ushido, looks like you're the last." The Hokage approaches the group of fighters ready to address the rules.

"Ok there are apparently an odd number of you so we will have to…" Tsunade was interrupted when intense light and massive amounts of chakra filled the arena causing all eyes to fall on the arena center. When the light started to fade the forms of three people were seen with one person being quite short. Everyone stared at them waiting to fully see who these people were. As quick as it came, the light suddenly disappeared revealing a well built blonde wearing a dark trench coat with flames trailing up the hems. Next to him holding his hand was a small girl in a light lavender kimono with her dark hair tied back into a pony tail with a few strands framing her small delicate face which held light colored eyes. Holding onto her other hand was what appeared to be a larger version of the girl except her hair was allowed to flow half way down her back.

"Why have you interrupted this tournament? Explain yourselves." Demanded the aging Hokage(she must need glasses now). She walked forward eyeing the small group curiously. She watched as the blonde looked to the girl.

"Awai-chan, go meet your obaasan." The blonde's words barely left his mouth before the small child ran and jumped into the dumbfounded arms of the Hokage with a huge smile plastered on her face..

"What is this?" Tsunade asked looking at the little girl.

"Tsunade-baa-chan, I finally get to see you." Cheered the little girl hugging her neck.

"Why are you calling me baa-chan? I never had kids."

"Hey sorry I'm late kaasan; you wouldn't believe the traffic when traveling between dimensions." The blonde's eyes caught the stare of a dark haired man staring at him with red eyes blazing. "Hey Sasuke-teme, sorry I couldn't be there to bring you back myself, but I had a personal issue to take care of, you understand right." He shouted to him before he was grabbed into a hug by the Hokage still holding Awai so he was not able to see the smile on the Uchiha's face.

"I thought I'd never see you again Naruto." She said as she cried on his shoulder.

"For a while I almost didn't think I'd ever be able to return, but Hinata-chan is amazing. I think she is a greater medic than anyone has ever seen." Tsunade let him out of the hug, but still kept Awai safely in her arms. "I see you like Awai about as much as she likes you. She's been dying to come here after I told her about you."

"She definitely is a cutie. You two have done well raising her… I take it then you want to enter the tournament?"

"You bet, Hinata-chan fixed me up better than new… How about we get this party started then?" Naruto walked over to where Hinata was still standing and pulled her back to where Tsunade was. "Hinata-chan, I see some of our friends in the stands. Go say hi to them, I think Awai-chan is quite attached to where she is currently so don't worry about her." He gives her a quick lip lock causing a bit of color to rush to her face. (You would think she would have gotten over the whole blushing thing being that she has been kissing him for 10 years already, but some things never change, and shouldn't) She shyly nodded before she disappeared and reappeared in the stands to find the group of friends bound to be around.

First match, Ushiro Itan vs. Inuzuka Kiba; second match, Piasano Altia vs. Uzumaki Naruto; third match, Keisen Ushido vs Uchiha Sasuke; fourth match, Asuka Hishen vs. Rock Lee. Winners of first and third will face the winners of second and fourth respectively. Then we'll have the finals. Rules are like the chuunin exams but there will be no proctor due to the level of these battles. Now, everyone get to the contestant's box." The conversation they just had was much too quiet for anyone to hear, so the audience didn't know who the new arrivals were yet.

Tsunade reappeared in the stands next to Hinata who hasn't worked up the courage to join her friends quite yet. The usual group was found sitting in the same area all talking amongst themselves; of course they were joined by the female counter parts that assimilated into the group. The Hokage got tired of watching Hinata contemplate going, so she pushed her forward to the group at sat with her old teammate,Jiraiya, with Awai still latched to her.

"Tsunade-sama, who's that cute little Hyuuga you have there?" asked the blonde kunoichi, sitting with her lazy husband, causing the group to look at the little girl.

"Her name is Awai, and she isn't a Hyuuga, she's an Uzumaki." Calmly replied Hinata as she sat down next to Tsunade. Everyone looked to the dark haired woman with mouths agape, even those who didn't personally know her knew the Uzumaki name since it was now a part of the history books as the family name of one of the most legendary of fighters.

"H-Hinata? So that blonde is…"

"Yes, Sakura-san, that is Naruto-kun."

"Is he ok? He seems to be low on chakra." Asked the strangely talkative Shino.

"He's better than ok, just wait for his match." The group wasn't paying attention to the fight currently taking place and just looked at Hinata until they saw a bruised guy walking down to them with his giant dog.

"Hey guys, that guy was much tougher than I thought." he told them with Akamaru agreeing giving a bark.

"Kiba-kun, I thought my husband taught you not to underestimate your opponents. At least he grew out of his denseness."

"What, you mean he isn't dense anymore?" asked most of the group.

"No, he never was, he just didn't get taught in a way that he would understand. I've taught him all I know about politics and stuff like that to prepare him for being Hokage." Iruka was the one most shocked about this news; he almost believed Naruto was un-teachable during his stay at the academy. "We'll talk later, Naruto is starting his fight"

The platinum blonde woman unsheathed an extremely rare looking weapon and readied her attack on her opponent. She wasted no time as she furiously attacked her opponent with him blocking each of her strikes with his metal backed glove; he then stared into the eyes of his attacker.

"I see you made use of the scroll I left you, I'm sorry I had to take Hinata with me when I left, I really wanted to help her genins, so I did the best I could." His attacker flinched a moment before backing off.

"Thank you for the scroll, but I have surpassed the simple teachings on that relic, I am now a sword master"

"That's good, but you can't defeat me. So show me what you've got and don't hold back." The two jumped quickly around the arena with Altia on the offensive slashing and slicing at the spiky blonde while steadily increasing speed. After 10 minutes of slashing and making no cuts, Altia stopped her attacks panting. "Tired already?" Naruto asked as he leaped forward throwing a kick faster than she expected and had to block with the broadside of her sword. Her eyes grew in shock when she saw his foot connect with the sword and fracture the blade.

"How the hell can you crack my blade?" she asked staring at the now useless sword.

"You have not quite become a sword master yet. Granted your skills are unmatched, but we live in a world with chakra, using it while sword fighting is not cheating; you can use it to strengthen attacks and reinforce your blade. I will be glad to spar with you again in the future to test your improvements."

"Spar? You think this is a spar? I'll kill you for underestimating me." She charged in for a quick thrust with her sword as Naruto was unimpressed.

"I used to attack that way… It's easier to fight when calm though." Naruto sidestepped her attack and planted a chop to the back of her neck knocking her out. He picked up her unconscious body and set her in a chair up in the stands since she wasn't really injured, just horribly tired.

As expected Sasuke put down his opponent in his usual cocky way with Sakura cheering his accomplishments. Not to be shown up by the genius, Lee defeated his opponent equally as fast ending with his 'good guy' pose and received one back from his sensei (and the crowd cringes).

The semi finals were sure to be heated battles with Sasuke vs. Lee and Naruto vs. Itan, still the current favorite since most still haven't recognized the blonde yet. First up was Naruto's match, which got him excited hoping for a real challenge. Both combatants entered the arena floor and took up battle stances, well maybe not so much for the blonde.

"Itan, it's good to see you again. I hope your training has made you a strong ninja."

"It definitely has. I'm guessing if you would have hung around in our group you would have held me back you weakling." (ah it's like a younger Sasuke!)

"Dude what the hell is wrong with you? I only met you once for about 5 or 10 minutes many years back, why are you so hostile?"

"You ruined my dream, and I wont let you live because of it!" Itan shocked the stadium with his rage as his chakra blasted to levels higher than many have ever witnessed before. Itan saw Naruto shaking standing before his power. "You thought you had real power or what ever you said back then, but mine overshadows yours. I will be the greatest Hokage." He declared.

* * *

"See Hinata-chan, I didn't underestimate my opponent, he was just that powerful. I haven't felt that much chakra in my entire life. I'm sorry to say it, but Naruto is out classed." Kiba expected to see Hinata down, but he was shocked to see her smile.

"Mama, that guy down there is almost like you when you fight daddy." The group looks to the little girl like she was from a different planet or something after what she said.

"Kiba-san, don't ever underestimate my husband, his strength is quite literally limitless, he can't be defeated by a small show of strength like that." Everyone was still wide eyed except Gai who decided to share a secret.

"Unfortunately I haven't seen the full youthfulness of Naruto, but Itan learned a few things when he constantly trained with my Lee."

"Gai, you fool you didn't let him learn that did you?" screamed out the masked ninja, Kakashi.

"Of course I did Kakashi, he said it was the only way to prove his true power be a beacon of youthful love to a certain girl, although he never told me who." Hinata paled when she heard that and everyone thought she was scared for her husband. She looked at them shivering.

"Gai-sensei, with all due respect, YOU ARE AN IDIOT! Itan might die now because of this." Screamed Hinata. Once again the group was stunned by her loud voice (you would think they would be stuck in a permanent stunned look with as much as they didn't know about them now)

"Nonsense, Hinata-san, he can hold open 6 gates without even harming himself and has access to the seventh. He won't die from the technique unless he tries for the last one." Hinata sighed and shook her head.

"It wasn't the technique I was referring to, just pray he doesn't announce to Naruto who he is pining after and he may live through the day." They were all confused but turned to watch the battle unfold.

* * *

"See you're even shaking at my strength." Itan announced with a smirk. He kept the smirk up until he heard what sounded like laughter. The laughter grew louder and the young Hokage hopeful saw the laughing was in step with what he perceived as shaking in fright.

"I've told you before, not to underestimate people. I'll let this one slide for now." Naruto threw off his heavy trench coat as it thudded against the ground and colors faded away revealing an old run down jacket. Chakra burst from his body enveloping the arena matching the output of his opponent. "I suggest we use only taijutsu to battle anything more would be disastrous to the village and may lead to unnecessary death, like you."

"What, you afraid you can't control your ninjutsu?" Naruto, literally in a flash, appeared next to him with a kunai drawn to his throat.

"No, it makes it fair since I won't be able to use the Yondaime's Hiraishin, there is already seals for the technique all over the stadium from my last fight." Naruto flashed back to his previous spot and placed his kunai back into his pouch and eyed the still smirking ninja before him.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, but now I will kill you and take what is rightfully mine… your wife!" Itan concentrated and opened 6 of his chakra gates causing roars of thunder to start crumbling the walls of the arena.

* * *

"Oh god, Hinata, did he just say what I think he said?" asked a wide eyed Tsunade sitting next to two equally scared perverts.

"Is he able to use all of his power?" questioned Kakashi shivering

"Unfortunately yes on both accounts" Hinata replied to them.

"Is daddy going to get scary again mommy?" Awai asked.

"Probably honey, but you'll be safe with your obaasan." Awai hugged Tsunade tighter for protection.

"Tell me Hinata, is he as strong as he was when fighting that beast?" asked the white haired super pervert.

"No, he isn't. I think he said he was stronger now." The ground thundered in protest as Itan opened his gates releasing enough raw strength to kill off a Kage.

* * *

"You clearly are the stupidest person alive; do not threaten me or my family. You are a disgrace to the village for chasing after your own personal motives over the goals of Konoha. I hate showing off like this (normally he would have jumped at the chance, but Hinata has tamed him a bit), but I have no choice… Ancient Arts: Restrictors Release!" Unlike Itan's show of strength, Naruto didn't show off in a flashy way but allowed his hidden power to be released slowly until the bolts of lighting in blues and reds flowed over his body once again.

"I don't feel that you are any where near my level, back down and run from here and I won't kill you." Offered Itan clearly blinded by his chakra.

"I don't know why you are conceited enough to think you can just take any woman you want. You aren't allowed to do that." replied the blonde in disgust.

"Shut up, I do what I want looser" Itan leapt forward bringing his foot around to connect with his opponents face to find nothing in its place.

"You are fighting a loosing battle, you are only sensing human chakra, focus on finding the demonic as well. This is your last warning before I retaliate, stand down and get your rage in check"

"You will never defeat me. I will take you out of this world by my hand… seventh gate, Gate of Shock, open!" Itan took his body to the limit as he disappeared from everyone's sight going for a fatal blow to cave in the side of Naruto's head. Naruto just stood there for all to see when Itan appeared as but a shadow throwing all his strength into one right-legged roundhouse kick. Before Itan connected he barely saw the speed of Naruto's left arm as it wrapped around his leg and held it under his arm. With a firm grasp on the leg Naruto stepped forward bringing his right elbow down on his thigh crushing his femur. Before he could even scream in pain the blonde's left arm smoothly let go of the leg as his left elbow connected with Itan's shoulder dislocating it as well as fracturing his collarbone. The arena was silent and cringing when they saw that Itan had a new backwards joint in the middle of his femur to join the sideways look of his shoulder all in under a second.

"You have let your own wants cloud your mind. I believe you may have had an outside influence at some point messing up your head as well, but you shouldn't have that problem now." Naruto flashed though some hand signs faster than a sharingan could see, "Ancient Arts: Mind Seal." He touched his glowing fingers to his opponent's forehead and Itan fell unconcious immediately. Naruto finished by doing some more hand signs "Ancient Arts: Restrictors Seal!" The electrified chakra disappeared quickly leaving a sheepishly smiling blonde looking at the crowd. "That was fun, who's up next?" Sasuke and Lee both stood faces white and raised their hands and announced at the same time "I quit!" (they would have been trying to loose their fight to not battle Naruto after witnessing that)

Tsunade shook herself from the shock and appeared on the arena floor with Hinata arriving mere seconds later. Hinata ran to her husband's side and kissed him in front of the whole village since she had nothing to hide and was proud of him. She turned and faced the audience with Naruto's arm lovingly draped over her shoulders. Tsunade approached them with a smile and stood next to Naruto with Awai still hanging on her neck to give her announcement.

"Village of Konoha, I would like you all to welcome back Uzumaki Naruto and his wife Hinata formally of the Hyuuga clan along with their daughter Awai to their home, Konoha. It is with great honor that I step down as Hokage and grant the title officially to Naruto. He has demonstrated control in a situation where anger can harm you and has morals we all could try to live by and still fall short. I'm honored to present to you, the village hidden in the leaves, the Rokudaime Hokage; Uzumaki Naruto. The crowd cheered and all his friends and senseis came down to where the blonde was smiling wide basking in the praise. Naruto watched the interactions of his friends with each other and smiled wider seeing Sasuke with Sakura carrying mini versions of themselves.

"Hey Sasuke, to think I found the one that loved me before you really even noticed, who's the dead last now?" Naruto was laughing as Sasuke just smiled holding up a single finger on his hand before he got punched by his pink haired wife. "I see you all never got that memo about ninjas not supposed to love." He called out seeing the rest of his friends all had someone or at least something to love as they approached them.

"It would just be too troublesome. There wouldn't be any ninjas left if that happened" the group continued their laughter until they saw a slightly miffed Jiraiya and Kakashi approach him with the same thought on their mind.

"Naruto, how did you learn the Hiraishin? No one can use that technique but the Yondaime."

"Well ero-senseis time is a form of a dimension, with my knowledge of ancient jutsus I could review everything that happened like I was there watching it on TV, talk about the History channel."

"Yeah, great, but that doesn't explain it. Yondaime made the technique special just for him. It couldn't be taught or copied."

"Well, ero-sennin, let's just say this… I found out who my father was finally." Naruto threw on his newly presented Kage robes and smiled wide holding his wife. Everyone that could see him gasped at his appearance… they looked too much alike, they couldn't deny the claim that he was his son.

"Alright enough talking guys, let's get some RAMEN!"

* * *

...Later


End file.
